MIT News - Diversity - Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning (LGBTQ) - Women in STEM - Womenhttps://news.mit.edu/rss/topic/diversity-and-inclusion
MIT News is dedicated to communicating to the media and the public the news and achievements of the students, faculty, staff and the greater MIT community.enThu, 21 Sep 2017 17:25:01 -0400Laura Kiessling wins Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistryhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/laura-kiessling-wins-tetrahedron-prize-for-creativity-in-organic-chemistry-0921
Professor of chemistry is the first woman to win the prestigious prize, awarded annually for creativity in organic chemistry or bioorganic and medicinal chemistry. Thu, 21 Sep 2017 17:25:01 -0400Danielle Randall | Department of Chemistryhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/laura-kiessling-wins-tetrahedron-prize-for-creativity-in-organic-chemistry-0921<p>Elsevier and the board of executive editors of the Tetrahedron journal series have selected MIT Professor&nbsp;<a href="https://chemistry.mit.edu/people/kiessling-laura" style="margin: 0px; color: rgb(87, 167, 222); text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Laura L. Kiessling</a>&nbsp;as the recipient of the 2017 Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistry&nbsp;for her outstanding contributions to the field. She is the first woman to be chosen for this illustrious award, and joins an impressive list of fellow winners, including several Nobel laureates.&nbsp;</p>
<p>“Hearing about the Tetrahedron Prize was both surprising and special," Kiessling said. "The previous winners are a list of those who have inspired me, including my mentors Stuart Schreiber and Peter Dervan. This honor is also important to me as it recognizes a change in the diversity of researchers in organic and bioorganic chemistry, and diversifying our field is critical for its vitality.”</p>
<p>Professor Stephen Martin, chair&nbsp;of the editorial board of Tetrahedron journals, said on announcing this year’s winner, “Professor Kiessling has performed truly ground-breaking research in the broad field of chemical glycobiology, an important field she has played a major role in shaping. Using creative chemical strategies to interrogate and elucidate cellular pathways involving glycans is a hallmark of her work. Her creative contributions to diverse areas ranging from exploring glycan synthesis in mycobacteria to probing mechanisms of differentiation in human stem cells have had a profound influence in chemical biology.”</p>
<p>The Tetrahedron Prize for Creativity in Organic Chemistry was established in 1980 by the executive board of editors and the publisher of Tetrahedron Publications. The award is intented to honor the memory of the founding co-chairmen of these publications, Professor Sir Robert Robinson and Professor Robert Burns Woodward. It is awarded annually in recognition of creativity in organic chemistry or bioorganic and medicinal chemistry, and will be presented during the 2018 Fall National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, which will be held in Boston&nbsp;next August.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Kiessling’s interdisciplinary research interests focus on elucidating and exploiting the mechanisms of cell surface recognition processes, especially those involving protein-glycan interactions. Another major research interest is multivalency and its role in recognition, signal transduction, and direction of cell fate.</p>
Laura KiesslingPhoto: Justin KnightAwards, honors and fellowships, Faculty, Chemistry, Cells, Biology, Women in STEM, School of ScienceSmoother career re-entry with online learninghttps://news.mit.edu/2017/mitx-course-internships-lead-to-smoother-career-re-entry-after-family-break-0918
MITx course and internships help STEM professionals return after a break from the workforce to care for family.Mon, 18 Sep 2017 12:45:01 -0400Office of Digital Learninghttps://news.mit.edu/2017/mitx-course-internships-lead-to-smoother-career-re-entry-after-family-break-0918<p>They are described as the hidden gems of the workforce: mature, skilled, and highly-motivated STEM professionals who&nbsp;return&nbsp;to their careers after a hiatus of two years or more. Often&nbsp;they have already navigated the complicated life experiences —&nbsp;marriage, career changes, children, and relocations —&nbsp;that still lie ahead of their younger counterparts. As a result, employers view them as stable, energized, and capable.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Ruchi Garg was one of those people, but she didn’t feel like a hidden gem. Six years prior, she had left the workplace to become the primary caretaker for her two young children. Now she felt like many of the 216,000 women across the U.S. with computer science or engineering degrees who&nbsp;left their technical jobs. She wanted to get her career moving again but was worried that her skillset had grown stale in the wake of rapidly advancing technologies and evolving computer engineering practices.</p>
<p>It was during this period of uncertainty that Garg came across Carol Fishman Cohen’s book, “Back On the Career Track<em>.</em>”<em> </em>Cohen&nbsp;is co-founder and CEO of <a href="https://www.irelaunch.com/" target="_blank">iRelaunch</a>, a company that specializes in helping women and men re-enter the workforce. In partnership with the <a href="http://societyofwomenengineers.swe.org/" target="_blank">Society of Women Engineers</a>, iRelaunch created the <a href="http://reentry.swe.org/" target="_blank">STEM Re-Entry Task Force</a> in 2015 and established internship programs with Booz Allen Hamilton, Caterpillar, Cummins, General Motors, IBM, Intel, and Johnson Controls.</p>
<p>Jennifer Abman Scott of the Society of Women Engineers says that, upon re-entry, “women often encounter a landscape that demands new technical skillsets and levels of expertise.”</p>
<p>“While they often have management or executive experience, they may lack updated technical skills and struggle with feelings of inadequacy. By investing in training to get re-entry candidates up to speed, firms can attract mature and vetted employees,” Scott says.</p>
<p>The internships caught Garg’s eye, but she knew that to be a viable candidate she’d have to revitalize her skillset. She understood that the best way to get back into the engineering groove was to take a class on a current programing language that employed the latest engineering techniques, but while colleges and universities near her offered computer science courses, they were either too basic or didn’t provide the curriculum she needed.</p>
<p>Then Garg found <a href="https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-computer-science-mitx-6-00-1x-11?utm_campaign=mitx&amp;utm_medium=partner-marketing&amp;utm_source=referral&amp;utm_content=mitx-mitnews-python-6001" target="_blank">6.00.1x (Introduction to Computer Science and Programming Using Python)</a>, an <em>MITx</em> online course&nbsp;taught by professors John Guttag and Eric Grimson and lecturer Ana Bell.</p>
<p>“I looked for courses at institutions near me but couldn’t find what I needed. Online learning brought resources from around the world to my door, and I was able to find the course I was looking for,” she says. “Without online learning, I’m not sure how I would have closed the gap in my knowledge base.”</p>
<p>After completing the Python course, Garg returned to iRelaunch&nbsp;with an upgraded skillset and soon landed a position in the inaugural cohort of the IBM Tech Re-Entry program. Upon completion of the 12-week paid internship, she was hired as a data analyst at The Weather Company, an IBM subsidiary that runs The Weather Channel and Weather Underground.</p>
<p>The 6.00.1x course was a key step in Garg’s re-entry. It provided the hands-on training she needed to be competitive in the marketplace and helped her regain the confidence she’d lost during the time she was away. But online learning isn’t a one-time encounter reserved for students and job applicants.</p>
<p>“After joining IBM, I was surprised to see that so many people were taking online courses to maintain their skillsets and discover new technologies that they can apply to their work at the company,” she says. “Currently, I’m taking courses in Scala and Spark.”</p>
<p>The U.S. Department of Labor's&nbsp;Bureau of Labor Statistics&nbsp;estimates that, at any given time, there are 2.6 million well-educated mothers of prime working age who are not participating in the labor force. Officials estimate that&nbsp;by 2024, as many as 500,000 engineering positions will be left unfilled for lack of qualified candidates. Recognizing the value of distance learning and its potential to help experienced professionals find their way back to the STEM workforce, iRelaunch and the Society of Women Engineers&nbsp;routinely connect job seekers to online learning programs.</p>
<p>Cohen says companies such as IBM have high regard for online coursework offered by institutions with rigorous demands and high quality standards.</p>
<p>“They know what it takes to complete&nbsp;an&nbsp;<em>MITx</em> course, for example, and they place a lot of value on candidates who are able to do so,” she says.</p>
<p>An estimated 27 percent&nbsp;of women who hold engineering and computer sciences degrees have left their professions, most commonly to care for family. Garg is emblematic of this&nbsp;large population, which has&nbsp;tremendous potential. According to the STEM Re-entry Task Force, bringing technical workers back into the fold could be an <a href="http://reentry.swe.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/STEM-Re-entry-White-Paper-Exec-Summary-and-Needs-Statement.pdf" target="_blank">effective pressure relief valve</a>&nbsp;for the current talent shortages in engineering and science.</p>
<p>“Online learning can be regarded as a meaningful credential for professionals returning to the workforce after a career break, and a great opportunity for serious updating," Cohen says.</p>
Ruchi Garg re-entered the workforce with an upgraded skillset thanks to an MITx online programming course and an internship program.Photo: Office of Digital LearningClasses and programs, Massive open online courses (MOOCs), MITx, online learning, Women in STEM, STEM educationMIT Women in Chemistry hosts second annual Scientist for a Day camphttps://news.mit.edu/2017/mit-women-in-chemistry-hosts-scientist-for-a-day-camp-0913
Middle school girls from the Cambridge area spend an afternoon on campus, participating in hands-on scientific experiments.Wed, 13 Sep 2017 17:40:01 -0400Danielle Randall | Department of Chemistryhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/mit-women-in-chemistry-hosts-scientist-for-a-day-camp-0913<p>On Saturday, Aug. 19, the <a href="http://mit.edu/wic/" target="_blank">MIT&nbsp;Women in Chemistry</a> (WIC) held their second annual Scientist for a Day camp for local middle school girls.</p>
<p>The well-attended event provided participants with a sampling of hands-on science activities led by female graduate students in MIT's Department of Chemistry. Over the course of the three-and-a-half hour experience, the girls experimented with polymers used in every-day materials, extracted DNA from strawberries and fluorescent molecules from spinach, simulated the greenhouse effect and its origin in our environment, made ice cream using liquid nitrogen, and more. "It was quite clear that all had a great time," said department head and Robert R. Taylor Professor Timothy F. Jamison. "I would be very surprised if [the WIC volunteers] have not inspired many or all of these girls to start or to continue on their paths in science."</p>
<p>The afternoon of scientific exploration proved to be rewarding not just for the middle-school girls, but also for the women who organized the event. "I really liked being reminded of what I must have been like before I knew as much about science as I do now," said graduate student and WIC outreach chair Krysta Dummit. "[I also] liked thinking about all the science they had yet to discover."</p>
<p>Graduate student voluteer Amanda Stubbs regards the event as an opportunity to pay it forward, remembering a defining moment in her own middle school experience that ultimately led her to where she is today. "When I was in middle school I went to a camp that was directed at girls to encourage them to go into STEM fields by talking about different possible careers; this experience was a helpful influence when I was eventually selecting my major as an undergraduate," Stubbs recalled. "I want to do everything I can to encourage more women to pursue chemistry; seeing them achieve the tasks we laid out for them and being excited about what they had accomplished was very rewarding."</p>
<p>The volunteers succeeded in orchestrating a wonderful event that truly got its participants excited about chemistry by putting the experiments right into their hands. "My favorite moment was watching the girls thoroughly smash a bunch of strawberries," said Dummit. "They were so enthusiastic about it. I think it's really important to let kids play with science, rather than just reading about it."</p>
<p>Liquid nitrogen ice cream also proved to be a hit among the crowd. "My favorite moment was making liquid nitrogen ice cream with the girls," said Stubbs. "They were excited and it brought together two of my favorite things: science and ice cream!"</p>
<p>By orchestrating this event and others like it, MIT Women in Chemistry continue to take their role as influencers of the next generation of female STEM students with a significant amount of gravitas. This fulfilling, educational, and, most importantly, fun experience succeded in raising awareness as to just how magnificent the pursuit of chemistry can be.&nbsp;</p>
MIT Women in Chemistry members led the second annual Scientist for a Day camp at MIT. Top row (l-r): Amanda Stubbs, Allena Goren, Krysta Dummit, Carly Schissel, Lexie McIsaac, and Jessica Lamb. Second row (l-r): Jessica Carr, Sophie Bertram, Nicole Moody, Kristin Zuromski, Michelle MacLeod, and Anna PonomarenkoSpecial events and guest speakers, STEM education, K-12 education, Diversity and inclusion, Chemistry, Women in STEM, School of ScienceLindsey Backman awarded Gilliam Fellowshiphttps://news.mit.edu/2017/lindsey-backman-awarded-hhmi-gilliam-fellowship-0818
Howard Hughes Medical Institute fellows are chosen for their potential to be leaders in their scientific fields and for their commitment to diversity. Fri, 18 Aug 2017 12:30:01 -0400Danielle Randall | Department of Chemistryhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/lindsey-backman-awarded-hhmi-gilliam-fellowship-0818<p>Graduate student Lindsey Backman has been selected by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute&nbsp;to be one of 39 Gilliam Fellows for&nbsp;2017.</p>
<p>Gilliam Fellowships for Advanced Study are awarded to exceptional doctoral students who have the potential to be leaders in their fields and who desire to advance diversity and inclusion in the sciences. Gilliam Fellows&nbsp;are supported for up to three years of dissertation research.</p>
<p>As a Gilliam Fellow, Backman&nbsp;will&nbsp;be able to meet and network with other Gilliam Fellows and professors at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), connecting with a diverse community of graduate students who&nbsp;share a&nbsp;passion for&nbsp;solving important questions in science and promoting inclusion within STEM fields. This group of students, who are expected go on to become the next generation of influential&nbsp;scientists, will offer one another an invaluable support network throughout their years of graduate school.</p>
<p>As an alumnus of HHMI’s External Research Opportunities Program (EXROP), which supported her as an undergrad when she spent 10 weeks of the summer of 2014 working in Professor Catherine Drennan’s lab, Backman can already attest to the benefits of HHMI’s supportive programs for students.</p>
<p>“It was during my HHMI EXROP experience that I fell in love with structural biology and also gained the confidence I needed to know I could be successful as a graduate student at MIT,” she says. “I am thus extremely grateful for HHMI’s continued support for me as a scientist, now in the next stage of my career, as a graduate student.”</p>
<p>Backman traces the catalytic moments that formed her interest in chemistry —&nbsp;and science in general —&nbsp;back to her years as a high school student in Tampa, Florida.</p>
<p>“My high school chemistry and biology teachers presented these subjects in such engaging ways, focusing on how each topic applied to our entire lives, and I became especially fascinated by how all forms of life are governed by biochemical reactions and interactions occurring at the molecular level,” she recalls.</p>
<p>Backman went on to pursue her interest in biochemistry at the University of Florida, where she became involved with research as an undergraduate student and received her bachelor's degree in chemistry (with a minor in classical studies).</p>
<p>Today, she&nbsp;is a PhD candidate working in the Drennan Lab, where she explores the enzymatic mechanisms of members of the glycyl radical enzyme family, primarily through protein crystallography.</p>
<p>“My research focuses on the structural and biochemical characterization of several new gut microbial glycyl radical enzymes (GREs), unearthing hidden chemical reactions that potentially play critical roles in human health,” she explains. “Learning more about these enzymes will not only add to the field’s knowledge of these critical enzymes, many of which could be promising antibiotic targets, but will also expand our basic understanding of the biochemical reactions that govern bacterial-host interactions in the gut microbiome.”</p>
<p>She was drawn to this area of study due to a fascination with the ability of enzymes to elegantly perform difficult chemical reactions.</p>
<p>“As a chemist, I’m not only interested in the scope of the reactions that enzymes can perform, but also how they are able to accomplish these transformations,” she says. “One of the most valuable approaches to asking such questions about mechanism is to obtain a structure of the enzyme. The prospect of getting a glimpse into the active site of enzyme, and making hypotheses about its mechanism of action based on what you see, was just incredibly satisfying to me, leading me to pursue this field [at MIT].”</p>
<p>After completing her PhD at MIT, Backman&nbsp;plans to pursue a postdoctoral academic position. Beyond that, her goal for the future is to combine her passions for research, teaching, and mentorship by becoming a professor herself.</p>
2017 Gilliam Fellowship awardee Lindsey BackmanImage courtesy of the Department of Chemistry.School of Science, Bacteria, Graduate, postdoctoral, Awards, honors and fellowships, Health sciences and technology, Chemistry, Diversity and inclusion, Women in STEMClosing the gender gap in mechanical engineeringhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/closing-the-gender-gap-in-mit-mechanical-engineering-0731
Women make up 49.5 percent of MIT’s undergraduates in mechanical engineering, due to department’s proactive approach, study finds.Mon, 31 Jul 2017 15:55:01 -0400Mary Beth O'Leary | Department of Mechanical Engineeringhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/closing-the-gender-gap-in-mit-mechanical-engineering-0731<p>In 2015, comments from a Nobel Prize-winning biochemist claiming female scientists distract their male colleagues in the lab immediately led to backlash across social media. Women <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/12/world/europe/tim-hunt-nobel-laureate-resigns-sexist-women-female-scientists.html" target="_blank">shared selfies</a> going about their routine conducting research to demonstrate just how “distracting” they are. Months later, individuals around the world responded to offhand comments about a female engineer with the hashtag <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2015/mit-community-ilooklikeanengineer-diversity-engineering-0813" target="_self">#ILookLikeAnEngineer</a>. Earlier this year, General Electric <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2017/3q-leora-cooper-legacy-of-her-grandmother-mildred-dresselhaus-0227" target="_self">envisioned a reality</a> in which female scientists, such as the late MIT Professor Emerita Millie Dresselhaus, are revered just as much as celebrities and athletes.&nbsp;</p>
<p>These events reflect a wider movement to combat sexism and encourage women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The gender gap in these fields is pronounced, to be sure. In mechanical engineering, for example, only 13.2 percent of bachelor’s degrees in 2015 were earned by women, according to the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). However, this number is in stark contrast to the undergraduate population in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering (MechE), which as of fall 2016, comprised 49.5 percent women.</p>
<p>So how did MechE achieve a gender split that far surpasses the national average? It’s a question that a team of researchers, including Kath Xu ’16, senior lecturer in mechanical engineering Dawn Wendell ’04 SM ’06 PhD ’11, and lecturer in comparative media studies and writing Andrea Walsh sought to answer. They presented <a href="https://www.asee.org/public/conferences/78/papers/19081/view" target="_blank">their results</a> in June at the 2017 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference.</p>
<p><strong>Gender parity as a recruitment tool</strong></p>
<p>The team found that gender parity starts before students set foot onto MIT’s campus. MIT’s Office of Admissions has employed a variety of tactics to recruit female applicants. “We have to fight against conventional wisdom,” says Dean of Admissions Stuart (Stu) Schmill in an interview with the researchers. Schmill and the rest of MIT Admissions have to combat the popular assumption that the Institute is predominately male. In actuality, MIT’s undergraduate population is 46.1 percent female.</p>
<p>Admissions utilizes various channels — including <a href="http://mitadmissions.org/blogs">blogs</a> and <a href="https://admitted.mit.edu/experience">Campus Preview Weekend</a> — to dispel the myth that women are not represented on campus. “What made MIT stand out to me as an applicant were the student blogs,” recalls Xu, who graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering. “They do a good job of showcasing the number of women and minorities at the school.”</p>
<p>Programs like the <a href="http://wtp.mit.edu/">Women’s Technology Program (WTP)</a>, run through MechE and MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, also encourage young women to pursue STEM studies. The WTP invites female high school students to live on campus over the summer and gain hands-on engineering experience in labs and classes.</p>
<p>Highlighting the ratio of women in the student population is a “chicken-and-egg cycle,” as Schmill puts it in the study. MIT is able to attract female applicants by showcasing the number of women on campus, which then begets even more women on campus. Once these women are at MIT, they often gravitate toward female faculty for guidance and mentorship.</p>
<p><strong>An existence proof </strong><br />
<br />
Seeing the effect female faculty members have on the women they teach helped former head of MechE Rohan Abeyaratne, who was also interviewed for the study, realize just how important it is to have women in leadership positions. One such faculty member is Anette (Peko) Hosoi, the Neil and Jane Pappalardo Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the first woman to be named associate department head in MechE.</p>
<p>“One thing I remembered greatly soon after Peko was hired was the number of female students who were going to her office hours was striking,” recalls Abeyaratne. The comfort level female students have with female faculty demonstrates the necessity for having more women in teaching roles.</p>
<p>In the study, the researchers found what female undergraduates are most interested in is assurance that they will have job prospects in the future. “When we talk to undergrads, they are not looking necessarily for role models,” explains Hosoi in the study. “They are looking for an existence proof. They want to know, ‘If I go down this path, is there going to be a job for me?’”</p>
<p>As students, both Xu and Wendell were able to find such existence proof on day one of majoring in mechanical engineering. Xu’s very first class was taught by Principal Research Scientist Simona Socrate SM ’90 PhD ’95. Meanwhile, Wendell’s first class was taught by Professor Emerita Mary Boyce SM ’84 PhD ‘87, who became MechE’s first female department head in 2008.</p>
<p>“At the end of the semester, I emailed Professor Boyce to ask her about being a mechanical engineer,” recalls Wendell, who now is a senior lecturer in the department. “She met with me for over an hour, telling me about her career and her passion for engineering.”</p>
<p><strong>Cold calling female faculty</strong><br />
<br />
In their conversations with former and current faculty, the researchers found that 20 years ago, MechE wasn’t as welcoming of an environment for women. With just one female faculty member in the late 1990s, it was clear something had to change. The 2002 Report of the School of Engineering was a turning point and prompted Thomas Magnanti, then dean of engineering, to take action by requiring departments to enforce affirmative action. As part of MechE’s efforts, qualified women received phone calls encouraging them to apply to faculty positions.</p>
<p>One such woman was Hosoi. “When I arrived at MIT, there were a lot of women who had been hired at the same time,” she recalls in her interview with researchers. “At a junior women’s faculty lunch, somebody asked, ‘How did you end up at MIT?’ All of the answers were the same. ‘Somebody called and asked me to apply.’”</p>
<p>In addition to cold calling, the study found that altering faculty job descriptions to be more broad helped cast a wider net in department leadership’s efforts to ensure that more women had the opportunity to join the faulty.</p>
<p><strong>Increasing awareness to reduce the gap</strong><br />
<br />
The first step toward closing the gender gap in STEM, according to Xu, Wendell, and Walsh’s findings, is acknowledging the gap exists. Increased awareness at MIT led to a concerted effort by departmental and Institute leadership to attract more female students and faculty members. "Achieving gender equity takes proactive effort and conscious strategies to achieve that goal," explains Walsh.</p>
<p>In addition to MechE’s commitment to achieving gender parity over the past two decades, there has been a great deal of support at an Institute level. MIT introduced more women’s programming across departments, invited speakers to discuss issues like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome">imposter syndrome</a>, and ensured women on campus had the support they need. &nbsp;Additionally, <a href="http://wgs.mit.edu/">MIT’s Program in Women’s and Gender Studies</a> addresses issues of gender equity in STEM through courses and programming.</p>
<p>While these efforts have helped attract more women in the faculty and student populations, there is still more work to be done beyond the halls of MIT. “We aren’t just looking to make MIT a more welcoming place for women engineers, we also want to change the world,” adds Wendell. “Subtle bias is everywhere. I’m often mistaken for an administrative assistant, and when I give talks elsewhere, people will walk right past me and ask where the invited speaker is.”</p>
<p>The researchers conclude that the cultural shift needed to achieve gender parity in MechE was sparked by many small changes and the support of key allies on campus. It’s their hope that MIT and MechE’s example could help other schools. “We wanted to provide a blueprint that is broadly applicable to other universities that want to increase the female population in their STEM departments,” says Xu. More gender parity within universities, coupled with movements such as highlighting #WomeninSTEM on social media, could provide the catalyst needed to increase the number of women who pursue careers in STEM fields.&nbsp;</p>
Twenty high school girls from around the country participated in this year’s Women’s Technology Program (WTP), a four-week program that gives girls hands-on engineering experience in the lab and classroom. Pictured here, this summer’s WTP class takes a tour of the Pappalardo Lab.Photo: Roget MoWomen in STEM, Diversity and inclusion, Admissions, Women, Mechanical engineering, Women's and Gender Studies, Comparative Media Studies/Writing, STEM education, SHASS, School of Engineering, Research, Social sciences, Social mediaExploring an unusual metal asteroidhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/nasa-psyche-mission-lead-lindy-elkins-tanton-exploring-metal-asteroid-0726
Alumna and former MIT professor Lindy Elkins-Tanton is working with MIT faculty in her role as principal investigator for NASA&#039;s upcoming Psyche mission.Tue, 25 Jul 2017 23:59:59 -0400Alice Waugh | MIT Technology Review | MIT Alumni Associationhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/nasa-psyche-mission-lead-lindy-elkins-tanton-exploring-metal-asteroid-0726<p>Lindy Elkins-Tanton ’87, SM ’87, PhD ’02 is reaching for the stars — literally. She is the principal investigator for Psyche, a NASA mission that will explore an unusual metal asteroid known as 16 Psyche.</p>
<p>The mission does not launch until 2023, but preparations have begun in collaboration with faculty in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS). Professors Benjamin Weiss and Maria Zuber, who also serves as MIT's vice president for research, wrote a paper about the asteroid with Elkins­-Tanton that was the basis for the team’s selection for NASA’s Discovery Program. MIT Professor Richard Binzel is also a team member.</p>
<p>At MIT, Elkins-Tanton earned BS and MS degrees in geology and geochemistry with a concentration on how planets form. Then she detoured from academia to the business world before becoming a college lecturer in mathematics in 1995.</p>
<p>“I realized that in academia, you have this incredible privilege of always being able to ask a harder, bigger question, so you never get bored, and you have the opportunity to inspire students to do more in their lives,” says Elkins-Tanton. She returned to MIT to earn a PhD in geology and geophysics, and for the next decade after completing that degree, she taught, first at Brown University and then at MIT as an EAPS faculty member.</p>
<p>Since 2014, Elkins-­Tanton has been professor and director of the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. She has been revamping the undergraduate curriculum to give it more of an MIT flavor, bringing current research into the classroom and having students tackle real-world problems. This approach has helped her transmit excitement about the field to her students.</p>
<p>Elkins-Tanton also draws on business skills that she says are quite useful for scientific collaboration: negotiating, making a compelling pitch, and knowing how to build a team that works well. She is applying those skills, along with her management and leadership experience, as the second woman to lead a NASA mission to a major solar system body (after Zuber, who was principal investigator of the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, mission).</p>
<p>Psyche represents a compelling target for study because scientists theorize that it was an ordinary asteroid until violent collisions with other objects blasted away most of its outer rock, exposing its metallic core. This core, the first to be studied, could yield insights into the metal interior of rocky planets in the solar system.</p>
<p>“We have no idea what a metal body looks like. The one thing I can be sure of is that it will surprise us,” Elkins-Tanton says. “I love this stuff — there are new discoveries every day.”</p>
<p><em>A version of this article originally appeared in the <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/mit-news/2017/07/" target="_blank">July/August&nbsp;2017 issue</a></em><em>&nbsp;of&nbsp;</em>MIT Technology Review<em>.</em></p>
As principal investigator of the Psyche mission, Lindy Elkins-Tanton '87, SM ’87, PhD ’02 is just the second woman to lead a NASA spacecraft mission to a planetary body. The first was her former MIT colleague, Vice President for Research Maria Zuber.Photo: Arizona State UniversitySpace, astronomy and planetary science, NASA, Satellites, Asteroids, EAPS, Physics, Alumni/ae, Women in STEM, School of ScienceLessons from pre-industrial climate controlhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/student-profile-alpha-arsano-0724
Graduate student Alpha Yacob Arsano wants to bring natural ventilation to the forefront of modern architecture.Mon, 24 Jul 2017 00:00:00 -0400Dara Farhadi | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2017/student-profile-alpha-arsano-0724<p>Alpha Yacob Arsano is standing next to the MIT Chapel’s marble altar, admiring the view through the domed skylight above. Outside, water surrounds the cylindrical red-brick structure like a shallow moat. Inside the chapel, the brick walls ripple like waves. Tiny windows line the walls and face downward so guests can see slivers of the moat. When sunlight reflects off the water at a certain angle, it shines into the chapel and dances onto the walls.</p>
<p>Arsano, who just earned a master’s in architecture studies and will continue in the fall in MIT’s PhD program in building technology, admires the different qualities of many buildings on campus. But none compare, in her mind, to the MIT Chapel. She says she is captivated by the structure’s simplistic beauty and its ability to seamlessly interact with components of the outside world in a spiritual, sustainable, and striking way.</p>
<p>Bringing environmental elements — specifically, natural ventilation — into a built structure is also a key focus of Arsano’s own work. For the past two years, she has been developing a digital design tool for early-stage building projects that can inform architects and engineers about how well a natural ventilation system could work to provide fresh air and cooling to the building they’re planning.</p>
<p><strong>Dispensing with air-conditioners</strong></p>
<p>When a user inputs a building’s location, yearly climate and weather patterns, and some initial parameters such as the building type (residential, commercial, etc.) and materials, Arsano’s program, named “Clima +,” can predict how well the building should function with natural ventilation. For example, using Clima +, planners might find that an apartment complex in Phoenix, Arizona, could sustain its cooling needs for 50 percent of the year with natural ventilation.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Although other tools claim to provide the same predictive information, Arsano and her advisor, Christoph Reinhart, an associate professor of architecture, were skeptical about these claims.</p>
<p>“I found that they were not telling the full story of the predictability of natural ventilation potential,” Arsano says. “There were some missing links. For example, people, machines, computers, and lighting might influence indoor temperatures to be higher than outdoor temperatures.”</p>
<p>Arsano believes Clima + addresses these details and provides a clearer prediction for a building’s maximum natural ventilation potential. She says this method should be useful for architects since it would provide guiding information as the building’s design progresses. Overall, she hopes that Clima + contributes to the rise of sustainable buildings that take advantage of the fresh air around them rather than relying solely on heating and air-conditioning systems. Arsano says sound research has also demonstrated the long-term cost efficiency of implementing sustainable and natural ventilation techniques.</p>
<p>“We are overusing natural resources. Why not be efficient with the climate?” she says. “It is a misconception that building energy-efficient structures is more expensive. In the long-term it is much cheaper.”</p>
<p>Arsano’s focus will remain on natural ventilation as she transitions into her PhD. However, she is thinking about investigating related topics, such as the implications of climate change. Prior to the advancement of mechanical technology in the 1900s, Arsano says natural ventilation was at the core of architecture. She hopes to bring this approach back to the forefront of the practice today.</p>
<p>Before starting her master’s program at MIT, Arsano was a one of seven students from around the world accepted to join the Transsolar Academy in Stuttgart, Germany. Transsolar is a leading climate engineering firm that specializes in green building consultation. For a year, she learned the fundamental concepts of building physics and used digital design tools to develop environmentally responsive design ideas for a wine factory in Italy and a commercial urban corridor in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.</p>
<p>Arsano says her time in Germany exposed her to the more empirical, scientific side of architecture and its focus on research methodology.</p>
<p>“I really liked how we were working there. I wanted to take it further so I started to look for programs which had similar paths,” she says. “[MIT] was really fascinating because students aren’t just taking courses; they also become part of a research group. I was looking for that.”</p>
<p><strong>Gender parity</strong></p>
<p>Arsano grew up in Addis Ababa. Her childhood was filled with outdoor activities that gave her the opportunity to engage in the city life. She says these experiences helped form her interest in the physical and cultural facets of the city, which she explored during her undergraduate studies in architecture. She also remembers making visits to see family in the more rural parts of Ethiopia, where she was struck by the differences in lifestyle compared to her home city.</p>
<p>“The difference between developed and developing countries is urbanization. You might not find electrical lights in some places or even [piped] water,” she says. “The vernacular houses [built with traditional methods and local materials] are how people live together. Even for me, it was a cultural difference.”</p>
<p>Arsano says living in Germany for a year was a delightful new experience. Participating in a program where half of the fellows were women was also unusual. When she started school at the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture in Addis Ababa, women made up one-fourth of the class of architecture students, she estimates. When visiting construction sites, she noticed that most of the workers and civil engineers on site were men. She believes the gender balance is starting to shift, but she still considers equal opportunity for women to be a critical issue in architecture.</p>
<p>While at MIT, Arsano has volunteered for the Association of Ethiopian Women in Boston and spoken at community events about questioning cultural norms by using lessons from the scientific method.</p>
<p>“If I want to go into construction, by default I might think it’s not for women, but I have to question that. What’s the limitation? Why can’t I be a construction worker? Why can’t I establish a construction company? What are my challenges? I can try this. I can do this. Maybe step by step. The purpose of questioning and investigating will help us get free from those limitations or those limitations that we think are there,” Arsano says.</p>
<p>Arsano’s outreach work in Boston’s Ethiopian community has extended to children’s education as well. At the invitation of a fellow Ethiopian engineer, Sintayehu Dehnie, Arsano and several other MIT students have been participating in a program for children ranging from 4th grade to high school.</p>
<p>“I engage with the community when I get the chance,” says Arsano. “Children ask you the weirdest questions ever. They ask questions you cannot answer. I really like mapping children’s minds.”</p>
<p><strong>Contemplating the chapel</strong></p>
<p>The MIT Chapel is empty except for two other people. One man walks up to a section of the brick-wall where the bricks have been laid so that it appears the wall has Rubik’s cube-sized holes between each brick.</p>
<p>The man, a visiting architect from another country, asks Arsano if she knows whether these holes serve a practical purpose. She isn’t sure. Without knowing Arsano or her work, the man postulates that they might allow fresh air from outside to come through. “Could be,” Arsano replies.</p>
<p>She walks outside to check the other side of the wall for evidence that the pores go all the way through. It appears that they don’t — perhaps a missed opportunity for the MIT Chapel to reap the benefits of natural ventilation.</p>
“We are overusing natural resources. Why not be efficient with the climate?” Alpha Yacob Arsano says. “It is a misconception that building energy-efficient structures is more expensive. In the long-term it is much cheaper.”
Image: Jake BelcherResearch, Profile, Graduate, postdoctoral, Architecture, School of Architecture and Planning, Students, Campus buildings and architecture, Cities, Climate change, Sustainability, Women, Women in STEM, Ethiopia, AfricaMIT’s Solve initiative seeks solutions to its 2017 global challengeshttps://news.mit.edu/2017/mit-solve-initiative-seeks-solutions-global-challenges-0719
Applications for problem-solvers interested in four new areas are due August 1.Wed, 19 Jul 2017 00:00:00 -0400MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2017/mit-solve-initiative-seeks-solutions-global-challenges-0719<p>Solve — MIT’s initiative that brings together problem-solvers of all stripes to tackle the world’s pressing problems — has four new global challenges for 2017: brain health; sustainable urban communities; women and technology; and youth, skills, and the workforce of the future. Applications for those who have a solution to any of these challenges are <a href="https://solve.mit.edu/challenges">due August 1</a>.</p>
<p>Solve issues challenges for anybody around the world to apply to participate in. The program identifies the best solutions through open innovation. And, it builds and convenes a community of leaders who have the resources, the expertise, the mentorship, and the know-how to get each solution piloted, scaled, and implemented.</p>
<div class="cms-placeholder-content-video"></div>
<p>At its most recent event last May, Solve convened technologists, social entrepreneurs, business leaders, policymakers, researchers, and change agents on campus for three days of Solve at MIT.</p>
<p>“As I look out on the world, I’m more certain than ever of the power and significance of the collaborative problem-solving global platform we call Solve,” said MIT President Rafael Reif at Solve at MIT. “In the two and a half years since we first announced Solve, it has evolved in important ways. As many of you know firsthand, since then Solve has launched specific, actionable challenges around refugee education, carbon contributions, chronic diseases, and inclusive innovation. In its first cycle, Solve attracted more than 400 solutions from more than 57 countries.”</p>
<p>The May event celebrated the first cycle of Solvers, who worked on those 2016 challenges, by bringing them together with the Solve community to form partnerships to help implement their solutions. Also at that time, Solve launched its new challenges for 2017. Those challenges are now getting ready to close on August 1. They are:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://solve.mit.edu/challenges/brain-health">Brain Health</a>: How can every person improve their brain health and mental resilience?</li>
<li><a href="https://solve.mit.edu/challenges/sustainable-urban-communities">Sustainable Urban Communities</a>: How can urban communities increase their access to sustainable and resilient food and water sources?</li>
<li><a href="https://solve.mit.edu/challenges/women-and-technology">Women and Technology</a>: How can women and girls of all socioeconomic backgrounds use technology to fully participate and prosper in the economy?</li>
<li><a href="https://solve.mit.edu/challenges/youth-skills-the-workforce-of-the-future">Youth, Skills, and the Workforce of the Future</a>: How can disadvantaged youth learn the skills they need to prepare them for the workforce of the future and thrive in the 21st&nbsp;century?</li>
</ul>
<p>Solve further announced three prizes for the 2017 challenges during Solve at MIT. Applicants for these challenges should be sure to opt in if they’re eligible.</p>
<ol>
<li>Atlassian Foundation International is pledging up to $1 million in grant funding for the Youth, Skills, and the Workforce of the Future Challenge to selected Solvers from non-governmental organizations, nonprofits, social enterprises, academics, entrepreneurs, and for-profit organizations.</li>
<li>The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is pledging up to $1 million in grant funding for the Youth, Skills, and the Workforce of the Future Challenge to selected Solvers who will have an impact in developing countries across the Indo-Pacific.&nbsp;</li>
<li>World-renowned <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1i-Zz6ybw0&amp;t=7s">cellist Yo-Yo Ma</a> is pledging to curate a mentorship prize for selected Solvers who propose solutions based in arts and culture to the four challenges.</li>
</ol>
<p>Applicants who are selected as finalists will join the Solve Challenge Finals in New York City on Sept. 17 during the United Nations General Assembly Week. The Solve pitch session will take place in front of challenge judges, Solve members, and a live audience in New York.&nbsp;</p>
<p>“This is just the beginning of the community, of the marketplace, of the movement,” said Solve Executive Director Alex Amouyel during Solve at MIT. “And to truly realize the vision of Solve, we need you to continue the charge.”</p>
Photo: Adam SchultzSpecial events and guest speakers, President L. Rafael Reif, Global, Brain and cognitive sciences, Cities, Community, Developing countries, education, Education, teaching, academics, K-12 education, Medicine, STEM education, Technology and society, Urban planning, Women, Women in STEMDiOnetta Jones Crayton receives inclusive culture and equity awardhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/dionetta-jones-crayton-receives-inclusive-culture-and-equity-award-0623
Award recognizes efforts to “promote positive change to the climate and culture for women in engineering fields.”Fri, 23 Jun 2017 11:30:01 -0400Elizabeth Durant | Office of the Dean for Undergraduate Educationhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/dionetta-jones-crayton-receives-inclusive-culture-and-equity-award-0623<p>Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and Director of the Office of Minority Education DiOnetta Jones Crayton has received a prestigious award from the Women in Engineering Pro-Active Network (WEPAN). The award was presented on June 13 at the WEPAN 2017 Change Leader Forum in Colorado.</p>
<p>Founded in 1990, WEPAN is comprised of individuals from nearly 200 academic, corporate, government, and nonprofit organizations working to advance women in engineering in higher education and the workplace.</p>
<p>The Inclusive Culture and Equity Award honors individuals or groups that have been a “catalyst for change” at their institutions by creating and implementing inclusive initiatives, policies, or practices that enhance the culture and climate for women in engineering. Nominations are sought from many sources, including WEPAN members, university presidents, and leaders at organizations such as the American Society for Engineering Education.</p>
<p>Nominators describe Crayton as a “change agent” and a “tireless champion for diversity and inclusion for all in engineering, particularly for women and students of color.” One wrote, “She has deep knowledge of and insights into what interventions and programs would enhance the experiences of undergraduate engineering and other STEM students from groups that are underrepresented in these fields. I value her thoughtful contributions to discussions and the way she stands up for what she believes to be right and true.”</p>
<p>Another nominator praised Crayton’s work at MIT as a thought partner for senior administration and a mentor to other staff, adding, “In her mind there is a solution to every challenge … and she is always willing to go the extra mile to find it!”</p>
<p>Crayton came to MIT in 2009 from Cornell University, where she was director of diversity programs for the College of Engineering. Prior to Cornell, she worked at the National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities in Engineering and Science, Inc.; the California Mathematics Engineering and Science Achievement Schools Program at the University of California at Berkeley; and the MESA Engineering Program at the University of the Pacific. She has assumed local and national leadership roles, including on the Massachusetts Governor’s Diversity Subcommittee on STEM, and has served on a number of diversity advisory boards.</p>
<p>“I have been working in STEM diversity initiatives for almost 25 years, and indeed, we have made great progress,” Crayton said at the WEPAN awards ceremony. “But there is still more work to be done. … I am proud to be doing this great work in partnership with WEPAN.”</p>
<p>In addition to Crayton, the Inclusive Culture and Equity Award was presented to one other individual: Joyce Yen, director of the ADVANCE Center for Institutional Change at the University of Washington.</p>
WEPAN President Teri Reed (left) and MIT's DiOnetta Jones Crayton (right).Courtesy of WEPANAwards, honors and fellowships, Staff, Community, Diversity and inclusion, Office of Minority Education, Women in STEMMulticultural Programs, LBGT Services moving to new offices in W31https://news.mit.edu/2017/multicultural-programs-lbgt-services-moving-to-new-offices-0606
Programs supporting students will be closer to the center of campus.Tue, 06 Jun 2017 16:00:01 -0400Division of Student Lifehttps://news.mit.edu/2017/multicultural-programs-lbgt-services-moving-to-new-offices-0606<div>
<div>
<p>MIT's Office of Multicultural Programs and LBGT Services in the Division of Student Life (DSL) will move from their current locations in the Student Center and Walker Memorial to the duPont Athletic Center (Building W31) this summer. “Students I work with have been wanting this, and I’m glad it’s happening!” La-Tarri Canty, director of the Office of Multicultural Programs (OMP), says, channeling the enthusiasm of students, alumni, faculty, and staff over the announcement. The move to a bigger, centralized location will be complete this fall.</p>
<p>“For us, this move allows for a space above ground, in a central location, with more square footage, and with a collaborative intersectional lens on our work,” says Abigail Francis, director of LBGT Services. The Rainbow Lounge in Walker Memorial’s basement has served as a nexus of support and programming for LBGTQ students since 2002. Over that time, LBGT Services has far outgrown the lounge’s footprint. “When we have family dinners, attendees have to sit on top of one another,” Francis adds, “and it’s hard to have meaningful conversations without being able to make eye contact with all participants in the current space.”</p>
<p>Francis also knows that some students on the east side of campus will miss the current location, so she and DSL are exploring ways to ensure that programming continues for students living close to Walker Memorial. “We’re committed to maintaining a presence and serving as a resource to students on the east side of campus,” Francis says.</p>
<p>“The move benefits all of us by bringing two programs with an important mission closer to the center of campus,” says Suzy Nelson, dean for student life. “To make MIT more welcoming and inclusive, students who rely on OMP and LBGT Services for support and connection need to feel like they are in the midst of the community, not dispersed across campus or — literally — underground.”</p>
<p>The move is one development in a momentous summer for OMP and LBGT Services. Gustavo Burkett, the new senior associate dean for diversity and community involvement, will join DSL this summer to lead a group of high-profile programs including the Student Activities Office — comprising OMP, LBGT Services, and Leadership and Engagement Programs — the Priscilla King Gray Public Service Center and Ideas Global Challenge, the Hobby Shop, and the Campus Activities Complex. Additionally, Religious Life, led by new chaplain to the Institute Kirstin Boswell-Ford, will become part of the diversity and community involvement group.</p>
<p>The new LBGT Services and OMP space will be just inside the armory’s front door, in an office that was used previously by the Tech Callers program. There will be room for current staff, student visitors, and events, which is new for OMP in particular. “Because we haven’t had dedicated space, students congregate outside my office in W20, and OMP-affiliated groups need to find space for their programs,” says Canty, who has served in her role at MIT for five years. “But now, the new offices in W31 will allow us to feel more rooted to MIT, and let OMP in particular expand our programming and make better connections with each other and LBGTQ students as well.”</p>
<p>Though the new OMP and LBGT Services offices will be the new center of their programs, some affiliated programs — such as the Black Student Union in Walker Memorial and the Latino Cultural Center in Building W20 — will retain their own spaces.</p>
<p>“The intercultural space sounds like a wonderful idea and it will definitely encourage more cohesiveness amongst the various cultural groups across campus,” says senior Tiera Guinn, who has been involved with OMP. She observed that the space stands to benefit students from many more cultures and backgrounds, such as Asian and Native American students. “There should be inclusiveness in this space to appreciate every cultural group,” Guinn adds.</p>
</div>
</div>
Bird's-eye view centers on MIT Building W31, where the new Office of Multicultural Programs and LBGT Services offices will be located.Photo: Christopher HartingAdministration, Campus services, Clubs and activities, Community, Diversity and inclusion, Student life, Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning (LGBTQ)Danielle Olson: Building empathy through computer science and arthttps://news.mit.edu/2017/student-profile-danielle-olson-0531
CSAIL PhD student creates immersive media to help users understand each other’s backgrounds and feelings.Tue, 30 May 2017 23:59:59 -0400Rachel Gordon | CSAILhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/student-profile-danielle-olson-0531<p>Communicating through computers has become an extension of our daily reality. But as speaking via screens has become commonplace, our exchanges are losing inflection, body language, and empathy.</p>
<p>Danielle Olson ’14, a first-year PhD student at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), believes we can make digital information-sharing more natural and interpersonal, by creating immersive media to better understand each other’s feelings and backgrounds.</p>
<p>Olson’s research focuses on inventing and analyzing new forms of media, from gaming experiences to interactive narratives. Through a course last fall, she contributed to “<a href="http://theenemyishere.org/">The Enemy</a>,” a virtual reality experience that lets users stand “face-to-face” with soldiers from opposing sides of global conflicts.</p>
<div class="cms-placeholder-content-video"></div>
<p>The project is the brainchild of photojournalist Karim Ben Khelifa, who worked on it with Fox Harrell, an associate professor of digital media with appointments in the MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing Program and CSAIL. Khelifa traveled to places such as Israel, Palestine, and El Salvador to interview soldiers from different sides of conflicts. Under the guidance of Harrell, Olson helped work on algorithms that analyzed users’ body language in different scenarios. That information was then incorporated into the live experience: As the user listens to the soldiers, they can dynamically respond based on the user’s behavior.</p>
<p>Khelifa describes “The Enemy” as an effort to enable the public to develop more meaningful relationships to world events than they would simply by reading news articles.</p>
<p>“You’re looking someone in the eye as they describe death and war conflicts, and seeing their facial expressions and body language,” Olson says. “There’s a different level of empathy that you can cultivate with these sorts of technologies.”</p>
<p>Her other areas of research follow a similar thread of building empathy by examining different cultures. As part of Harrell’s Imagination, Computation, and Expression Laboratory, she’s working on developing interactive narrative experiences to help kids practice dealing with social identity issues. For example, one game involves an elf trying to get past a gatekeeper from a different clan, who may try managing the impressions others have of their identity to get past the gate. This work has already gained attention from notable artists like rapper Lupe Fiasco, who came into Harrell’s lab at MIT and offered feedback. &nbsp;</p>
<p>Growing up, Olson got a late start to coding. As a kid she wasn't one to play video games or pull apart computers, and didn't even know what MIT was until she watched “Iron Man” as a high-schooler. At 17 she was accepted to MIT's Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science Program (MITES) program, and she returned the following year as an undergraduate.</p>
<p>She says that her passion for education comes from her mother, who came to the U.S. from Cameroon with only an eighth-grade education before going on to earn her master’s degree.</p>
<p>“I always hear my mom’s voice saying that education is the one thing nobody can take away from you,” Olson says.</p>
<p>As an MIT senior she founded <a href="http://www.gique.me/">Gique</a>, a nonprofit focused on teaching local students skills in STEAM — science, technology, engineering, arts, and math — embracing the intersection of art and technology. Her team creates hands-on curricula, experiments, and activities to help students develop more holistic viewpoints of the world.</p>
<p>“A 2008 study on ‘No Child Left Behind’ showed that half of the nation's districts decreased class time for art, drama, history, and science, which left students with a narrow learning environment,” she says. “We need to fight back against policies that discourage interdisciplinary education.”</p>
<p>Olson says that it’s vital for people in power to use their influence to help give underrepresented groups more access to resources that can level the playing field.&nbsp;</p>
<p>“I had access to programs like FIRST Robotics and MITES because I didn’t have to pay for them,” she says. “They’re sponsored by people who put their money where their mouth is and who aren’t just acknowledging the need for workplace diversity: They’re actually taking steps to invest directly in people of color."</p>
<p>Outside of her research and educational work, Olson feeds her creative pursuits, whether it’s cooking, reading comic books, or taking care of her pet rabbit and cat.</p>
<p>“I see my place as raising the next generation of computer science warriors who ingrain their culture into the fabric of computing,” she says. “I think it’s important to build systems that aren’t catered only to certain populations, but actually represent many values and bolster our political capital as developers, engineers, and makers.”</p>
<p><u>Fast Facts</u></p>
<p><strong>Favorite place for news: </strong>Twitter</p>
<p><strong>One thing people would be surprised to know about her: </strong>She was an MIT cheerleader. The year she started and served as co-captain was the first time in MIT history that the cheerleading team went to nationals.</p>
<p><strong>Advice to incoming students: </strong>“You’re going to have failures. The master has failed more times than the beginner has even tried. Make sure you have an identity outside of research, so it’s not threatened when you hit a bump in the road.”</p>
<p><strong>Her tech role model:</strong> Stacie LeSure Gregory, a postdoc at the American Association of University Women (AAUW). “She’s dedicated her career to empowering women and underrepresented groups in STEM.”</p>
PhD student Danielle Olson believes we can make digital information-sharing more natural and interpersonal, by creating immersive media to better understand each other’s feelings and backgrounds.Photo: Jason Dorfman/CSAILProfile, Students, graduate, Graduate, postdoctoral, Comparative Media Studies/Writing, Arts, Photography, Augmented and virtual reality, Video games, Artificial intelligence, Social media, School of Engineering, SHASS, Women in STEM, Diversity and inclusion, Office of Engineering Outreach Program (OEOP), Alumni/ae, STEM educationMIT receives Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition&#039;s Breastfeeding-Friendly Employer Awardhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/mit-receives-massachusetts-breastfeeding-coalition-breastfeeding-friendly-employer-award-0530
Tue, 30 May 2017 13:40:00 -0400MIT Work-Life Centerhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/mit-receives-massachusetts-breastfeeding-coalition-breastfeeding-friendly-employer-award-0530<p>The <a href="https://massbreastfeeding.org/" target="_blank">Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition (MBC)</a> has recognized MIT as a breastfeeding-friendly employer for its active support&nbsp;of employees who want to continue breastfeeding when they return to work.</p>
<p>Several working mothers at MIT nominated the Institute for the MBC award.&nbsp;Nominators were asked to provide information on the following criteria:</p>
<ul>
<li>availability of a&nbsp;private space for employees to pump or express breast milk or nurse their babies;</li>
<li>flexibility for employees to bring young babies to work with them;</li>
<li>regular break times or a more flexible work schedule to facilitate pumping and nursing;</li>
<li>access to an electric breast pump;</li>
<li>a refrigerator for storage of expressed breast milk, and sink area for cleaning equipment; and</li>
<li>information on workplace breastfeeding support services for&nbsp;all employees.</li>
</ul>
<p>In awarding the designation, MBC lauded MIT for having&nbsp;a “great support system."</p>
<p>MIT will be recognized for its&nbsp;achievement at MBC's&nbsp;Breastfeeding in the Bay State 2017&nbsp;conference in September.</p>
The Massachusetts Breastfeeding Coalition recognizes employers who provide exemplary support services for their employees who are nursing mothers. Image courtesy of the MBC.Campus services, Facilities, Community, Human Resources, Awards, honors and fellowships, WomenRaul Boquin: Working toward high-quality education for allhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/student-profile-raul-boquin-0516
MIT senior envisions opportunities for “every person of the world who wants to learn something.” Tue, 16 May 2017 00:00:00 -0400Kate Telma | MIT News correspondenthttps://news.mit.edu/2017/student-profile-raul-boquin-0516<p>Raul Boquin, now an MIT senior, remembers the assignment from his freshman year as if it were yesterday. During a leadership workshop, he was asked to write a headline for a newspaper in his imagined future. The words that came to mind resonated so strongly that they now hang on the walls of his dorm room: “Equal opportunities in education for all.”</p>
<p>“I realized that I didn’t come to MIT because it was the best engineering school, but because it was the best place to discover what I was truly passionate about,” he says. “MIT pushed me to my limits and made me able to say ‘I don’t have to be the number one math person, or the number one computer science person, to make a difference’ with the passion I ended up having, which is education.”</p>
<p>Boquin, who is majoring in mathematics with computer science, predicts his life’s work will be to “find a way to adapt education to every person of the world who wants to learn something.”</p>
<p><strong>More to education than teaching</strong></p>
<p>Boquin’s first forays into education followed a relatively traditional path. As part of the undergraduate coursework he needed for his education concentration, he spent time observing teachers in local middle and high schools.</p>
<p>“But at the end of sophomore year, I realized that there was a lot more to education than just teaching.</p>
<p>The summer before his junior year, Boquin worked as a counselor and teaching assistant at <a href="https://www.beammath.org/">Bridge to Enter Advanced Mathematics</a> (BEAM). “It originally started as just a math camp for students in the summer, teaching them things like topology and number theory,” Boquin says. “These were seventh grade Hispanic and black children, and they loved it. And they were amazing at it.”</p>
<p>On a campus in upstate New York, Boquin taught classes by day and talked to students about his own work in mathematics by night. He also designed parts of the BEAM curriculum and came up with fun ways of teaching the lessons. “It was inspiring because it was like I wasn’t only a teacher, but I was a mentor and a friend,” he says.</p>
<p>Back at MIT, with the guidance of Eric Klopfer, professor and director of the Scheller Teacher Education Program and the Education Arcade, Boquin joined lead developer Paul Medlock-Walton to work on Gameblox, through MIT’s Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP).</p>
<p>Boquin describes Gameblox as a blocks programming language, in which users put blocks together to make something happen in the program. He worked on the user interface of the program, wrote tutorials for features, and built a framework for other researchers to test new code and features. His favorite part, though, was working on a Gameblox curriculum.</p>
<p>“I researched ways of finding out how teachers could use Gameblox to teach not only math and science, but also English, and history, and geography, and how to incorporate programming concepts in different levels of education,” Boquin says. “The features that I got to add to Gameblox as an engineer, I got to test, live, right afterward with teachers from Boston, or with students.”&nbsp;</p>
<p>International students from China and South Korea visiting MIT for various summer programs were some of Boquin’s first Gameblox test cases.</p>
<p>“The inspirational thing was seeing what they liked and what they didn’t like, and still being able to practice those teaching things I had sophomore year,” says Boquin. “Then I would [adjust] my curriculum based on the feedback they had<strong>. </strong>And that’s when I realized that I really wanted to make a difference in educational research, whether through software or other types of engineering. I love the feeling of being able to mentor students.”</p>
<p><strong>Leading the Latino Cultural Center</strong></p>
<p>Boquin met many of the communities that he is part of today even before he decided to come to MIT. At Campus Preview Weekend (CPW), he met the QuestBridge student group community, a group made of <a href="https://www.questbridge.org/scholars">QuestBridge Scholars</a> and other low-income students.</p>
<p>“At the Latino Cultural Center, I met a lot of future mentors that I would look up to,” he says, recalling CPW. “I inherited a lot of their ideas and passions, and I realized that not only could I make something out of an academic career or an engineering career, but I could make something out of an educational and diversity stance, too.”</p>
<p>As a sophomore, Boquin became the president of Latino Scientists and Engineers (formerly MAES, Mexican American Engineers and Scientists). The next year, he served as the treasurer for the Latino Cultural Center (LCC), and then became vice president as a senior.</p>
<p>“I really like implementing this type of programming that makes students feel empowered, that gives more opportunities to students, and just in general making students happy. I felt like one of the ways I could do that was as a leader in the LCC, as the vice president, to try to find leaders in sophomores, and freshman, and juniors,” he says. “It’s also about assigning other leadership roles.”</p>
<p><strong>New curriculum</strong></p>
<p>Boquin continues to develop curricula for different groups of students. This past fall, he became a teacher at CodeIt!, an MIT-student-run class that teaches coding to middle school girls.</p>
<p>The classes meet for eight sessions over eight weeks, and girls start by learning the basics of Scratch, another blocks-based programming language. They learn about loops, variables, data, and conditionals, all framed in projects such as games and animations. Next, the girls divide into groups to hone their skills on a project that they design — doing Scratch from scratch, Boquin says.</p>
<p>“I got to facilitate a class of 25 students, and lead six mentors, other undergraduates, to find the best way to [help the girls implement] their own individual ideas for projects,” says Boquin.</p>
<p>Boquin’s most recent teaching experience came on the other side of the world. Other than visiting his parent’s home country of Honduras, Boquin had never traveled internationally. This past Independent Activities Period, Boquin journeyed to South Korea with the MISTI Global Teaching Labs.</p>
<p>“The other hemisphere has a type of education that I have never experienced, like collective education versus individual and distinct [education]. That was something I wanted to experience and try out,” Boquin says.</p>
<p>The workshops in South Korea that Boquin helped host were MIT-style, project-based events, which involved “getting your hands dirty first, and then maybe learning about it after,” he says. “Something that blew me out of the water, too, was how much potential a student can have when you show them different perspectives — how much potential I can have, too, when they introduce me to new perspectives.”</p>
“I realized that I didn’t come to MIT because it was the best engineering school, but because it was the best place to discover what I was truly passionate about,” MIT senior Raul Boquin says.
Photo: Ian MacLellanProfile, Students, Undergraduate, Student life, Mathematics, Computer science and technology, Volunteering, outreach, public service, education, Education, teaching, academics, Diversity and inclusion, cambridge, Cambridge, Boston and region, Women in STEM, Clubs and activities, K-12 education, online learning, STEM education, Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), MISTI, SHASS, School of ScienceYou belong @ MIThttps://news.mit.edu/2017/you-belong-at-mit-catherine-good-0512
A new initiative developed by the Teaching and Learning Lab is designed to increase students’ sense of academic belonging.Fri, 12 May 2017 14:10:01 -0400Maisie O’Brien | MindHandHeart Initiativehttps://news.mit.edu/2017/you-belong-at-mit-catherine-good-0512<p>“Wait a minute… I’m the only female in this class!” realizes the engineering student in the cartoon, sandwiched beside her two male classmates. She shakes nervously, hands clenched, considering the responsibility of “representing all of womankind” before collapsing face-down on her desk. “Ditz” and “Psycho” thought bubbles appear above her smirking classmates’ heads.</p>
<p>So began the kickoff event in the <a href="http://tll.mit.edu/design/you-belong-mit">You Belong @ MIT</a> interactive seminar by <a href="https://www.gc.cuny.edu/Page-Elements/Academics-Research-Centers-Initiatives/Doctoral-Programs/Psychology/Faculty-Bios/Catherine-Good" target="_blank">Catherine Good</a>, an associate professor of psychology at Baruch College of the City University of New York, senior research scientist at <a href="https://www.turnaroundusa.org/" target="_blank">Turnaround for Children</a>, and expert in the field of academic belonging. Participants in Good’s April 4th seminar debated the meaning and implications of <a href="https://qph.ec.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-d7c76b87df576adf2bea13f3357d980b" target="_blank">this cartoon</a> by <a href="http://jorgecham.com/">Jorge Cham</a> of <em>The Stanford Daily.</em> Organized by the <a href="http://tll.mit.edu/" target="_blank">MIT Teaching and Learning Lab</a>, with support from the <a href="http://mindhandheart.mit.edu/innovation-fund" target="_blank">MindHandHeart Innovation Fund</a>, the event was part of a three-phase initiative to increase students’ sense of academic belonging.</p>
<p>Academic belonging, Good explained, is distinct from friendship or acceptance from peers. “It’s not about whether I have a friend in my class or someone to go to the movies with. It’s about feeling like a valued member of my academic department or discipline.” She continued, “The absence of academic belonging impacts many students, but it affects underrepresented minorities and women in STEM fields most acutely. This can lead to decreased engagement in the classroom, and in some cases, poor academic performance.”&nbsp;</p>
<p>In the first part of the seminar, Good presented the latest research on academic belonging to faculty, postdocs, and administrators from across the Institute. During a follow-up workshop, participants discussed concrete strategies for increasing students’ sense of belonging and overall resiliency.</p>
<p><strong>Fixed vs. growth mindset</strong></p>
<p>Good began by introducing two commonly held theories of intelligence related to academic belonging: the fixed and growth mindsets. Those in the fixed camp view intelligence as determined by nature, while those in the growth camp believe it is malleable and rooted in effort. “Individuals with a fixed mindset view achievement as a way to validate their identity. Those with a growth mindset view achievement as a way to acquire new skills and knowledge. They may be working to solve the same problems, but they’re pursuing different goals.”&nbsp;</p>
<p>Good spoke to the specific challenges that a fixed mindset poses for high-achieving students. “Many of them haven’t developed the skills or resources to overcome academic challenges,” she said. “They’re left with their own interpretation of ‘What does it mean to study really hard for a test and only get a B-minus?’ Effort, hard work, failure, struggle — all of those things take on a different meaning in a fixed vs. a growth mindset. A fixed view of intelligence is great as long as you never have to struggle.”</p>
<p>The group discussed how many students enter MIT with a fixed view of intelligence, and the challenges it can pose. A participant reflected, “One of the things we have to consider at MIT is that we’re skimming the upper echelon of students. Many of them were at the top of their high school class. Now that they’re in a pool of all high-achieving people, it can feel like they’re not smart anymore.”</p>
<p>Another participant added, “Many of our students have built their whole self-concept around the idea of being ‘smart.’ If they feel like they’re not ‘smart’ anymore, it’s almost as if they don’t exist. If they’re not the best, then they feel like they’re nothing.”</p>
<p><strong>Strategies for growth and belonging</strong></p>
<p>Participants discussed ways to encourage students to adopt a growth mindset, and normalize effort and engagement as the path to success. Good suggested starting with the neurological underpinnings of intelligence. “In my research, I’m explaining to elementary, middle, and high school students that the brain is filled with cells called neurons, and to get smarter means the neurons communicate between each other more effectively through repeating an activity. The mind is like a muscle: The more you work it, the stronger it gets.”</p>
<p>Good reviewed research studies and highlighted some of the documented effects of fostering a growth mindset. “It’s striking that when you teach people about growth mindset, that gaps in achievement between black and white kids, men and women, go away even on standardized tests.” Growth mindset, she said, has also been shown to counter stereotype threat, a condition where one feels at risk of confirming to stereotypes about their social group.</p>
<p>Participants shared ways they or their colleagues have worked to encourage a growth mindset at MIT, as well as new ideas for doing so. The group discussed discouraging overt competitiveness, which can undermine belonging; grading students based on established benchmarks of mastery; allowing students to correct their homework and receive partial credit for doing so; working with struggling students to cultivate better studying strategies; recognizing what students are doing well in addition to what they can improve upon; and acknowledging that a student’s performance in one class is not enough information to predict their overall success in a field of study.</p>
<p>The group discussed how hearing stories of failure and resilience from professors and respected peers is profoundly meaningful to students who are struggling academically and may feel isolated. “Everyone shows you Superman, but no one shows you Clark Kent,” summarized one participant.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>The interactive seminar and workshop on academic belonging were preceded by a book club on the same topic. The Teaching and Learning Lab is currently planning the second of the three-part You Belong @ MIT program.</p>
<p>You Belong @ MIT was funded by the MindHandHeart Innovation Fund, which awards grants to projects advancing wellness, mental health, and community at MIT.</p>
Catherine Good leads an interactive seminar on academic belonging with faculty, postdocs, and administrators from across MIT. Photo: Maisie O'BrienSpecial events and guest speakers, Teaching and Learning Laboratory, MindHandHeart, Community, Students, Student life, Mental health, Behavior, Diversity and inclusion, Women in STEM, Education, teaching, academicsAbdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL) to spark global renaissance in education through innovation at MIThttps://news.mit.edu/2017/abdul-latif-jameel-world-education-lab-established-0502
Empowering underserved populations will be a guiding focus.Tue, 02 May 2017 16:00:00 -0400MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2017/abdul-latif-jameel-world-education-lab-established-0502<p>Today MIT and cofounder Community Jameel, which was established and is chaired by Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel ’78, announced the creation of the Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab (<a href="http://jwel.mit.edu/">J-WEL</a>).</p>
<p>The global collaborative effort will help educators, universities, governments, and companies revolutionize the effectiveness and reach of education, and aims to help prepare people everywhere for a labor market radically altered by technological progress, globalization, and the pursuit of higher living standards around the world. A guiding focus of J-WEL will be learners in the developing world, populations underserved by education such as women and girls, and a growing displaced population that includes refugees.</p>
<p>“For years, Community Jameel’s commitment to finding practical solutions to complex global problems has inspired all of us at MIT,” says MIT President L. Rafael Reif. “With J-WEL, Community Jameel builds on that extraordinary legacy with an effort that will empower learners around the world and in the United States, opening educational pathways that are currently closed to millions. We are grateful to Community Jameel for their vision, their partnership, and their unwavering dedication to making a better world.”</p>
<p>J-WEL will be an anchor entity within MIT’s open education and learning initiatives that are led by MIT Vice President for Open Learning Sanjay Sarma. The three special interest groups integral to J-WEL’s mission — pre-K–12, higher education, and workplace learning — will each have faculty leads. Professors Angela Belcher and Eric Klopfer will direct pre-K–12, and Professor Hazel Sive will direct the higher education special interest group. A workplace learning faculty director will be named soon. M.S. Vijay Kumar, MIT’s associate dean of digital learning, will serve as J-WEL’s executive director and will work closely with the faculty leads.&nbsp;Faculty will receive J-WEL grants for research related to this initiative. J-WEL will also draw on existing educational resources at MIT, including the MIT Integrated Learning Initiative (MITili) and Office of Digital Learning, to research and apply what works best in the education of children, university students, and workers.</p>
<div class="cms-placeholder-content-video"></div>
<p>Leveraging&nbsp;MIT’s resources,&nbsp;J-WEL will&nbsp;convene a global community of collaborators for sustainable, high-impact transformation&nbsp;in education&nbsp;through research, policy, pedagogy, and practice. The lab will foster new initiatives and build a powerful collaborative of schools, governments, nongovernmental organizations, philanthropists, and businesses. Through these networks, J-WEL and MIT at large will gain input and insight from the regions, both domestic and international, where the new educational tools and methods will be deployed. Collaborative members will have special access to MIT programs and resources, such as trainings, workshops, and certification programs.</p>
<p>Fady Mohammed Jameel, president of Community Jameel International, says: “Education and learning are fundamental to a strong society and economy — they promote employment and create increased opportunity for all. While there has been progress made in improving education, there is always more that can be done. Enabling individuals to do their very best and reach their full potential, whatever their background, is a key priority for Community Jameel and the world. That is exactly why we are establishing the Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab with MIT.&nbsp;</p>
<p>“MIT is one of the most respected research universities in the world, and through J-WEL those involved in education will have special access to their programs and resources, such as training and workshops, as well as collaborative opportunities with MIT and other members. From our ongoing collaborations, including the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab and the Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab, we have already seen firsthand the benefits of working with MIT, and J-WEL will build on that record of success.”</p>
<p>In an age of social and technological change, education is a critical tool for society. MIT’s approach has centered on understanding the processes of learning at a fundamental level, allying that understanding with the technological means to deliver learning, and then designing educational systems in the most effective ways possible. Building on MIT’s historic footprint in education at the childhood level (through STEM teacher education camps and programs such as Scratch), in the collaborative formation of new universities (such as Singapore University of Technology and Design and Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica in Brazil), and in the education of professionals (through MIT Professional Education and MIT Sloan Executive Education), J-WEL will work with its global collaborators to improve the delivery and quality of educational opportunities using new digital, maker, and in-person “mind-and-hand” approaches to learning.</p>
<p>Early examples of MIT efforts in this arena include work at the high school level across India with the Tata Trusts, on teacher education with the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, improvements to workplace learning at Accenture, and expanded educational reach in the Arab world with the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education.</p>
<p>“Tata Trusts has successfully partnered with MIT on seeding the Connected Learning Initiative (CLIx) that leverages the power of technology to enhance both teaching and learning, in high schools in India. The Trusts are also collaborating with the Tata Center for Education and Design at MIT to apply technical talent to address challenges in development. We look forward to J-WEL breaking new ground through applied research in education in India and the world," says Mr. R. Venkataramanan, managing trustee of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust, in India.</p>
<p>“We have a very special collaboration with MIT spanning several years, with a shared vision to bring to life new ways of learning for people at unprecedented scale,” says Rahul Varma with the Talent and Learning Office at Accenture. “Hearing about the plans for J-WEL reminds us of MIT’s expertise and commitment in helping to address major issues of the day. I have no doubt J-WEL will be a success and have significant impact.”</p>
<p>“It is exciting to see MIT put together an effort to share emerging best practices across the world in education, especially in the primary and secondary education spaces. The need for new thinking in these sectors is pressing, especially in STEM, and MIT is perfectly poised to take on this challenge,” says Arthur Levine, president of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation</p>
<p>“Through J-WEL, we will forge new and long-lasting collaborations as we learn, share, and train together, using the assets developed at MIT as well as by leveraging the community convened by J-WEL,” says Sarma. “To borrow an idea expressed by philosophers and educators across the centuries: J-WEL will help to spark fires in students’ minds, and enable educators to spark solutions to their communities’ most demanding challenges.”</p>
<p>"As we help young people prepare to navigate in an uncertain future, we cannot do so without re-imagining learning at every level, inside and outside formal schooling. This is why our collaboration with MIT on online learning is critical to our strategy to educate and upskill Arab youth. We welcome J-WEL and look forward to being a part of its visionary work, and we applaud Community Jameel for this important educational investment," says Maysa Jalbout, CEO of the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education.</p>
<p>The gift is part of MIT’s current $5 billion <a href="https://betterworld.mit.edu/">Campaign for a Better World</a> and is consistent with Community Jameel's focus on creating a better future. Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (<a href="https://www.povertyactionlab.org/about-j-pal">J-PAL</a>), established in 2003, seeks answers to poverty in a changing world. Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab (<a href="http://jwafs.mit.edu/">J-WAFS</a>), established in 2014, seeks answers to food and water scarcity issues as the population rises and global warming takes hold.</p>
(Left to right) L. Rafael Reif, President of MIT; Fady Mohammed Jameel, president of Community Jameel International; and Sanjay Sarma, MIT vice president for open learningPhoto: Bryce VickmarkAbdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL), Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), Abdul Latif Jameel World Water and Food Security Lab (J-WAFS), Administration, Developing countries, Digital technology, Development, education, Education, teaching, academics, Campaign for a Better World, Alumni/ae, International development, K-12 education, Middle East, Office of Digital Learning, President L. Rafael Reif, STEM education, Technology and society, Women in STEMMonica Pham: Advancing nuclear power and empowering girlshttps://news.mit.edu/2017/monica-pham-advancing-nuclear-power-and-empowering-girls-0421
Sophomore researches fusion energy and promotes STEM opportunities for young women.Fri, 21 Apr 2017 16:10:01 -0400Leda Zimmerman | Department of Nuclear Science and Engineeringhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/monica-pham-advancing-nuclear-power-and-empowering-girls-0421<p>When she was 16, Monica Pham mapped out her future. “My chemistry teacher was talking about how atoms could generate unlimited power,” Pham recalls. “I asked her what kind of person worked in this field, and when she said a nuclear engineer, I decided that’s what I wanted to be.”</p>
<p>Today, as a college sophomore pursuing a degree in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE), Pham could not be happier with her decision. “That weird, defining moment in high school has worked out well for me, because with my interests in energy and engineering, NSE is a really great fit.”</p>
<p>In addition to her full plate of NSE classes,&nbsp;such as 22.01 (Introduction to Nuclear Engineering and Ionizing Radiation)&nbsp;and 22.06 (Engineering of Nuclear Systems),&nbsp;Pham is engaged in research at the Collaboration for Science and Technology with Accelerators and Radiation (CSTAR), a joint laboratory of NSE and the Plasma Science and Fusion Center.</p>
<div class="cms-placeholder-content-video"></div>
<p>“I remembered touring the CSTAR facility during freshman pre-orientation, and thought this would be a great way to get my first real experience in nuclear engineering,” Pham says.</p>
<p>Pham’s project, one of a number at CSTAR, is under the supervision of assistant professor Zachary Hartwig, and involves the development of a system for diagnosing materials used in tokamaks — nuclear fusion reactors. Fusion energy harnesses the power of super-hot plasma, the fuel of stars, to generate enormous amounts of energy. Tokamaks confine and control plasma through the use of magnetic fields.</p>
<p>Before fusion energy can become a viable source of energy, critical issues must be addressed. Hartwig’s research, part of a five-year study devised by NSE Professor Dennis Whyte, focuses on some central questions: What are the potentially destructive impacts of plasma on tokamak components, and can these effects be assessed inside the fiery furnace of a typically inaccessible tokamak chamber?</p>
<p>This is where Pham comes in. She is part of a team using a particle accelerator to blast a beam of atomic particles at materials used in tokamak components. This research is an initial step in developing a full-scale diagnostic technique to measure the impacts of harsh conditions on plasma-facing components in a major fusion facility.</p>
<p>“Because plasma is kind of crazy, there is a lot of erosion and deposition to these materials in a tokamak,” she says “Previous diagnostic techniques are all&nbsp;ex situ&nbsp;— you have to take components out of the chamber afterwards to see how plasma affected them — so this technique is novel and could really help with new fusion reactor designs.”</p>
<p>Some days Pham will help assemble the experiment, setting up the small metallic targets at the end of the accelerator beamline. Other days, she collects data from the detectors, plotting the intensity of the yield of atomic particles such as gamma radiation against the intensity of the accelerator beam.</p>
<p>“I’m learning a lot about how to set up and run experiments from them,” she says. “It’s both challenging and fun, especially when we have to troubleshoot an experiment that isn’t working as planned.”</p>
<p>After four straight terms on this project, Pham looks forward to the potential publication of research in which she has been involved. “One of the graduate students hopes to publish, including data I collected last year,” she says. “It would be kind of cool to be an undergraduate and a co-author.”</p>
<p>When not in class or in the laboratory, Pham makes time for the MIT chapter of the Society of Women Engineers. As festival chair, she sets up workshops and activities to engage girls and young women in science and engineering.</p>
<p>Pham recalls times during secondary school when she “was not taken as seriously as boys who wanted to go into engineering,” she says. “People would say to me, ‘Are you sure you want to do that; it seems pretty hard.’” As a result of these experiences, she says, “I want to empower girls to feel they belong in these fields.”</p>
<p>At such venues as the Cambridge Science Festival, and the USA Science and Engineering Festival in Washington, Pham runs open houses intended to introduce girls both to fun science, like using lemon juice to polish a penny, and to female science and engineering role models such as herself. “Some kids ask what it’s like to be a woman engineer or an MIT student, and I tell them it’s really cool,” she says.</p>
<p>She has proof this outreach makes a difference. “One time I was helping an eight-year-old girl build a mini-catapult, and she turned to me and said, ‘I was going to ask for a robot for Christmas and now I want to build a robot myself,’” says Pham. “It was an amazing moment, and showed me my efforts could really pay off.”</p>
“I want to empower girls to feel they belong in these fields,” says Monica Pham, a sophomore in nuclear science and engineering.Photo: Susan YoungProfile, Nuclear science and engineering, Nuclear power and reactors, Undergraduate, Energy, Fusion, Women in STEM, Women, Plasma Science and Fusion Center, School of Engineering, StudentsUnited in learninghttps://news.mit.edu/2017/united-in-learning-mit-dubai-0330
An MIT Professional Education program brings the Institute to Dubai.Thu, 30 Mar 2017 17:13:01 -0400Meg Murphy | School of Engineeringhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/united-in-learning-mit-dubai-0330<p>The political leaders of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates have an indefatigable belief in the promise of innovation. So when this future-focused city decided they needed help building their own culture of innovation, they came straight to MIT.</p>
<p>“We are shifting the mindset of our government employees toward how to think outside of the box,” says Najwan Al Midfa from the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs and Future, which enacts the strategy and vision of the UAE. “Honestly, we see that as the MIT way of thinking.”</p>
<p>Al Midfa, a special projects manager for the Mohammed Bin Rashid Center for Government Innovation, credits a recent series of two-day innovation workshops led by MIT faculty with influencing high-profile attendees, including cabinet ministers, chief innovation officers, undersecretaries, and others. “Officials are saying they want to spread MIT’s culture within their entities,” says Al Midfa. Such an effort advances the UAE’s broader push for creative solutions to urgent challenges involving energy and environment.</p>
<p>The workshops cultivated a spirit of innovation on many levels, says Bhaskar Pant, executive director of MIT Professional Education. The UAE Prime Minister’s Office, which extended the invitation, also suggested participants work together across traditional hierarchy and gender barriers, he says. “The UAE government knows crossing such boundaries will allow for more innovative results,” says Pant. “They wanted to use the MIT reputation — its clout — to make that kind of collaboration easier.”</p>
<p>MIT faculty traveled to Dubai to teach forms of innovative thinking, not necessarily address cultural issues, Pant adds. The workshops involved a cross-section of people, male and female, exchanging ideas and working jointly on projects. “The UAE is being very progressive,” says Pant, who teaches intercultural communications to MIT engineering students and other community members. “You’ve got tremendous hierarchy across the Middle East, especially in the government. The UAE is saying, “Well, we’re going to be different.”</p>
<p><strong>Connecting minds</strong></p>
<p>Spreading a culture of innovation is paramount in Dubai; the UAE intends to become one of the most innovative governments in the world. Initiatives include the Dubai 2021 Plan, an ambitious project aimed to raise Dubai’s profile as a top international city for business, culture, tourism, and government, as well as to reinforce its position as a pivotal hub in the global economy and a hotbed for innovation.</p>
<p>Dubai also won its bid to host the World Expo in 2020 with a theme of "Connecting Minds, Creating the Future" to recognize the collaboration needed across cultures, nations, and regions in order to generate sustainable solutions to global challenges. It has attracted top international startups to tackle critical problems, and leads a nationwide event — UAE Innovation Week — that celebrates innovation as an everyday activity to be embraced by men and women in every segment of society.</p>
<p>“I doubt there are many countries where leaders are as well-informed or change-oriented,” says Sanjay Sarma, vice president for open learning at MIT. In 2016, he and Pant signed the agreement with the UAE that launched the MIT innovation series in Dubai.</p>
<p>Sarma, who also leads the Office of Digital Learning at MIT and is a professor of mechanical engineering, led the first workshop Radical Innovation. He says government leaders impressed him as progressive, knowledgeable, and engaged. Men and women discussed concepts creatively, applied them to real examples, and absorbed how to use modern organizational and experimental principles.</p>
<p>Next in the series, Federico Casalegno, associate professor of the practice and founder and director of the MIT Mobile Experience Lab, focused on design thinking. Government officials worked together on teams and created disruptive ideas with new media and cutting-edge technologies, he says. One team designed a distributed-connected system that leveraged the internet of things and artificial intelligence to enable working mothers to balance dual responsibilities of children and career. Another created a digital system with distributed sensors to optimize renewable energy production and consumption, he says.</p>
<p>“We had a creative-thinking environment. Everyone was active. Women, in particular, were able to bring their own know-how and international experience into the design thinking process,” says Casalegno. “I think the mix of people within the teams was one of the successful parts of it.”</p>
<p><strong>The public good</strong></p>
<p>MIT faculty member David Niño led a final workshop on the challenges involved in leading strategic innovations. Like his colleagues, Nino was focused on his subject area — and not on cross-gender collaboration. It happened anyway.</p>
<p>“One of the senior female leaders approached me the first day and said: “Are you going to mix us together for group exercises? The men and the women?” says Niño, senior lecturer in the Gordon-MIT Engineering Leadership Program.</p>
<p>In the seminars, he noticed, women sat on one side of the conference room, and men on the other. The dress was traditional with women wearing long black robes with a hijab and men in long white robes with headscarves. “I was planning to mix everyone together as I usually do,” Niño told the woman. “Is that violating a cultural norm?” he asked. No, she said, it would be welcome.</p>
<p>“The discussion was very rich and engaging to begin with, and even more so when they moved into mixed groups to work on projects,” Niño says. In one instance, participants role-played a scenario in which a public official with new data on city pollution levels must determine potential causes and develop creative solutions to this problem. One group came up with a set of solutions, and the other group critiqued them. “The energy in the room was amazing. They really came alive,” he says.</p>
<p>While MIT offers expertise in innovation, the extended relationship will enable learning to go both ways, says Niño. In fact, he learned during his workshop that a climate summit with top UAE leaders was happening in the same building — and they were approaching an air pollution issue with the same collaborative and innovative approach he was currently teaching.&nbsp;</p>
<p>“As global citizens, we all have a shared stake in developing creative solutions to problems such as climate change, and I would love to see us mutually share our experiences and learn from one another.”&nbsp;</p>
In innovation workshops led by MIT faculty, female government officials in Dubai brought know-how and international experience into the design thinking process, says Federico Casalegno, associate professor of the practice, and founder and director of the MIT Mobile Experience Lab. “I think the mix of people within the teams was one of the successful parts of it.”Photo: MIT Professional EducationMIT Professional Education, International initiatives, Middle East, Classes and programs, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E), Women, School of EngineeringSetting the pace for change in the energy sectorhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/setting-the-pace-for-change-in-energy-ceraweek-0324
MIT energy and climate thought leaders play integral part in discussions at CERAWeek 2017.
Fri, 24 Mar 2017 16:55:01 -0400Francesca McCaffrey | MIT Energy Initiativehttps://news.mit.edu/2017/setting-the-pace-for-change-in-energy-ceraweek-0324<p>In a time of political transition and uncertainty in the U.S. and abroad, questions inevitably arise about the future of the energy sector. How will the shift to a low-carbon economy play out? How much has the timeline been impacted? These questions were on the minds of many of the attendees gathered in Houston earlier this month for IHS CERAWeek, the annual conference of the international energy industry. The conclusions were both realistic and optimistic, and marked by one of the defining characteristics of the week: momentum.</p>
<p>For a decade, MIT has played a substantial role in this conference. This year, MIT speakers included Vice President for Research Maria Zuber, the E.A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences; MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) Director Robert Armstrong; and several other researchers, who took part in the weeklong program that also featured Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau; Laurence Tubiana, CEO of the European Climate Foundation (ECF); Patricia Espinosa, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; and executives from major energy companies, among others.</p>
<p><strong>Momentum in technology and climate change mitigation</strong></p>
<p>This future in which carbon emissions have been substantially reduced is one that a number of speakers from diverse backgrounds heralded as inevitable, and more than that, desirable.</p>
<p>Coupled with this momentum towards low-carbon energy was a clear interest in the technology that will make it possible. MIT representatives at CERAWeek took part in lively discussions among the many alumni in attendance — whose free participation was facilitated by MITEI Associate Director Louis Carranza and the MIT Club of South Texas — or speaking on panels. Robert Stoner, MITEI’s deputy director and the director of the Tata Center for Technology and Design, spoke at a Thursday morning panel on developing markets for powering economic development. Karthish Manthiram, an assistant professor of chemical engineering, spoke about the role of carbon capture, utilization, and storage in a low-carbon energy future. PhD candidate Jesse Jenkins, a researcher in engineering systems in the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, took part in a panel on distributed resources’ relationship to the evolution of the power grid.</p>
<p>The conference also featured MIT alumni as speakers. James Bellingham ’84, SM ’84, PhD ’88, director of the Center of Marine Robotics at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, was one of three alumni panelists who discussed technology’s role in reshaping the energy supply chain. Fellow panelists included Ric Fulop SL ’06, co-founder and CEO of Desktop Metal, and Jon Hirschtick ’83, SM ’83, co-founder and CEO of Onshape Inc. On another panel concerning energy startups, Helen Greiner ’89, SM ’90, founder and CTO of CyPhy Works, spoke alongside another MIT panelist, Murat Ocalan PhD ’11, founder and CEO of Rheidiant.</p>
<p>At a plenary session on climate and energy strategies post-Paris Agreement, MIT’s Zuber reminded the audience that a wide range of technologies are needed to effectively combat the climate challenge, saying, “There isn’t any one silver bullet here.” She added, “We have very separate challenges that are associated with the developed world and the developing world. We need to be investing in a range of clean technologies.” Zuber’s fellow panelists included Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, CEO of Masdar; Rachel Kyte, CEO and special representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All; and ECF’s Laurence Tubiana.</p>
<p>Zuber also spoke at a dinner featuring female leaders in energy, aptly coming at the close of International Women’s Day. Panelists included Zuber; Nabilah Al-Tunisi, chief engineer for Saudi Aramco; Julia Harvie-Liddel, group head of resourcing at BP; Mary Kipp, CEO of El Paso Electric Company; and Geraldine Slattery, asset president for conventional oil and gas at BHP Billiton. Antonia Bullard, IHS Markit’s vice president for energy, noted at the end of the conference, “The largest rounds of applause I’ve heard this week were for carbon pricing and opportunities for women.”</p>
<p><strong>Spinach emails, electric cars, and the future of silicon</strong></p>
<p>Armstrong moderated Friday’s MIT plenary, “Frontiers of Science and Innovation: Future technologies to meet the energy and climate challenge.” He kicked off Friday’s panel with his co-moderator, IHS Markit Vice Chairman Daniel Yergin, by talking about MITEI’s developing Low-Carbon Energy Centers. Armstrong described the centers as a vehicle “to bring research in different disciplines together with industry to accelerate progress in the energy transition.” MIT panelists discussed how each of their research projects is contributing to low-carbon energy solutions.</p>
<p>Panelist Michael Strano, the Carbon P. Dubbs Professor of Chemical Engineering at MIT, brought up a video of a small spinach sprout growing in a beaker in his team’s lab, its roots wrapped in cheesecloth. “We’re going to watch this spinach plant send an email,” Strano announced to the audience.</p>
<p>In the video, a researcher’s hand depressed a yellow-colored solution into the water in the spinach plant’s beaker. Mere seconds later, thanks to a simple electronic setup already in place that connects the spinach’s solution electronically to a Raspberry Pi computer, an email showed up on the researcher’s phone.</p>
<p>“The idea,” Strano said, “is to replace some of the electronic devices and gadgets around us with a functional living plant. We’re working out the engineering details of how you would do this with nanotechnology.” The spinach sending the email? That’s Strano’s team’s answer to the need for sensors to detect potential toxins in soil or in the atmosphere. Plants already take in an immense detail of data about their surroundings, so Strano’s team had the idea of turning a plant (any plant will do) into a sensor of sorts, that, via a simple setup like the one he displayed in the video, can send periodic updates on the soil or air quality around it. An added benefit is that plants are “doubly negative” when it comes to carbon — both made of carbon and constantly consuming it.</p>
<p>The panel turned from replacing electronics with plants to improving the electronics themselves. Troy Van Voorhis, the Haslam and Dewey Professor of Chemistry, discussed his research into improved silicon in solar cells and technology for storing energy in chemical bonds. David Keith, the Mitsui Career Development Professor and Assistant Professor of System Dynamics at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, focused on electric cars. According to Keith, the widespread adoption of both electric and driverless cars will ensure that “driving will be safer, easier, cheaper, kinder to the environment.” First, though, certain barriers to adoption must be scaled. Keith discussed ways in which these challenges, from high costs to a need for greater proliferation of recharging infrastructure, can be overcome.</p>
<p><strong>Investing in energy research for the future</strong></p>
<p>In the post-Paris Agreement panel, Zuber discussed nuclear energy, describing innovations such as advances in molten salt reactors that will make the fission process safer, cheaper, and more efficient. She also addressed the common, half-joking criticism of fusion: that it’s always at least four decades away. “There’s been serious progress on this front, mainly due to technology innovations, particularly in the area of high-temperature super-conducting magnets. I frankly think that we are on the order of 10 years from net positive energy for a small compact reactor, not 40 years away. Once we get that, then we commercialize, and then we have a brand new industry. Then we have a completely different game.”</p>
<p>Zuber also emphasized the importance of basic research. “We need to make a bigger push in research, and we need to make a bigger investment in the basic science that’s going to drive the technology,” she said. “We also need to make a bigger investment in early-stage development, so that we can mature these technologies fast enough.” Zuber mentioned MIT’s recent creation, The Engine, an incubator that will invest in pre-commercialization stage projects.</p>
<p>“It’s a combination of investment in R&amp;D and patient capital to mature these ideas so we can get them out,” she said. “We’re at the cusp of a revolution.”</p>
MIT Vice President for Research Maria Zuber takes part in a panel on post-Paris Agreement climate and energy strategies at CERAWeek 2017 in Houston, Texas.Photo: Greg HamillMIT Energy Initiative, Faculty, Special events and guest speakers, Industry, Alumni/ae, Energy, Climate change, Sustainability, Policy, Nuclear power and reactors, Nanoscience and nanotechnology, Chemical engineering, Earth and atmospheric sciences, EAPS, School of Engineering, School of Science, Carbon, Women in STEM, Oil and gasLorraine Wong awarded 2017 MIT Collier Medalhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/lorraine-wong-honored-with-mit-collier-medal-0321
MIT senior in brain and cognitive sciences and women&#039;s and gender studies honored for community work supporting mental health and women in STEM.Tue, 21 Mar 2017 14:35:01 -0400Rachel Traughber | Department of Brain and Cognitive Scienceshttps://news.mit.edu/2017/lorraine-wong-honored-with-mit-collier-medal-0321<p>In 2014, MIT created the Collier Medal to honor Police Officer Sean Collier’s commitment to engaging with the community around him during his time at the Institute. The medal is a living memorial to Officer Collier, who gave his life in service to MIT on April 18, 2013.</p>
<p>“How do you pay homage to a person who made the ultimate sacrifice, and also remember the person that he was?” asks MIT Chief of Police John DiFava. “We’ve memorialized him in two ways. We’ve built this beautiful structure in front of Stata and the Koch Institute, and we created the [Collier] Medal, which keeps [Sean] alive, in terms of what he stood for, what he was, and what he represented on this campus.”</p>
<p>This year’s recipient, MIT senior Lorraine Wong, embodies the spirit of service the Collier Medal commemorates. Jared Berezin, a lecturer in the Department of Comparative Media Studies/Writing, met Wong through the Increase Help Seeking working group on campus, part of MIT’s MindHandHeart Initiative. The group was created to develop ways to connect those who are struggling with mental health to resources, and to reduce the societal stigma seeking help can bring.</p>
<p>“As the student co-chair of the working group, Lorraine holds a leadership position, yet rather than take a commanding role over meetings, they often prefer to listen intently to the members of the group,” says Berezin. “Lorraine is typically the first to volunteer to do critical work on our group’s behalf — ranging from setting up our infrastructure needs to preparing key questions for the group to consider — yet they show little interest in receiving recognition. They want to learn as much as they can, and do as much as possible to bring about meaningful, potentially life-saving changes on campus.”</p>
<p>The suicide of a close high school friend spurred Wong’s interest in mental health and mental illness.</p>
<p>“We didn’t talk about mental health or mental illness in my high school. It felt like people just went on. Statistically, there are so many people dealing with the same things, and they just keep it inside and don’t feel like they can talk about it,” Wong explains.</p>
<p>As an MIT freshman, Wong joined the campus group Active Minds, a peer outreach group whose mission echoes that of Increase Help Seeking. Their mandate is to utilize peer outreach to increase students' awareness of the issues surrounding mental health, symptoms of mental illness, and the available resources for seeking help, while serving as&nbsp;a liaison between students and the administration and mental health community.</p>
<p>“There’s nothing wrong with you if you have a mental illness or mental health issues. At MIT, many people were somewhere near the top of their high school class, they’ve been pretty successful, and often times they had people right there to support them. When you’re here, and you’re in your freshman fall, and you’re taking classes that you’ve never taken before with so many talented students, it’s not going to be as easy to succeed. And if you’re struggling but you don’t feel like you can reach out for help, that can hurt academically as well as personally and emotionally,” Wong says.</p>
<p>This quiet commitment to helping others and an interest in science and technology intertwined in Wong from an early age. In addition to mental health advocacy, Wong also volunteers for programs that encourage girls to connect to STEM fields. Growing up in Los Altos, California, they attended a K-12 STEM-focused school, actively participated in two Girl Scout troops, and helped to create a third.</p>
<p>“In high school, I did robotics. We had a Girl Scouts team called Space Cookies,” shares Wong. Jointly sponsored by NASA and the Girl Scouts, the robotics team was a special troop that exposed young women to designing, fabricating, and programming robots in a group setting. “We were able to work at the NASA Ames Research Center. It was an amazing experience.” During their senior year, Wong helped create the middle school version of the troop, ensuring that girls as young as 12 could participate.</p>
<p>Wong's interest in this advocacy continued at MIT, where they participated in the Women’s Initiative, an outreach program that sends students majoring in STEM fields to schools around the country to talk to girls about engaging with STEM. Wong spent a week in the Lowell, Massachusetts school district, speaking to middle school girls about different kinds of science and engineering, and finishing with a hands-on project extracting DNA from strawberries.</p>
<p>“The girls were taken out of the class to meet with us. It was a special time for them to be able to be on their own, have engineering and science on their minds, while not having the stereotypes filtering in from other people also working on the same things,” says Wong.</p>
<p>With these dual interests in mental health and gender, it should come as no surprise that Wong is a double major in brain and cognitive sciences and the Program in Women and Gender Studies. After they graduate, Wong plans to work at nonprofits for a few years before going to grad school for degrees in social work and public policy. While many of the activities they are involved with on campus touch mental health and gender, they are also part of the greater Boston advocacy community, working with Planned Parenthood, the Samaritans crisis hotline, and GLAD, the GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders, where they volunteer at GLAD Answers, a legal infoline.</p>
<p>“I love MIT’s mission,” Wong says. “Our motto is 'mind and hand,' but I think our mission closes with something like ‘we’re trying to teach our students science, tech, and engineering for the betterment of humankind.’ It’s not that we’re teaching these things to make money, or make cool discoveries, but we’re doing it for or to help people. It’s not just science — there’s a human aspect to everything we do.”</p>
Senior Lorraine Wong is the 2017 recipient of the MIT Collier Medal.Photo: Department of Brain and Cognitive SciencesAwards, honors and fellowships, Students, Undergraduate, MindHandHeart, Police, Sean Collier, Brain and cognitive sciences, Mental health, Women in STEM, Women's and Gender Studies, SHASS, School of Science, CommunityScene at MIT: Ellen Swallow Richards leads the Women&#039;s Laboratoryhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/scene-at-mit-ellen-swallow-richards-womens-laboratory-0321
A trailblazing industrial and environmental chemist, Ellen Swallow Richards was MIT’s first female graduate and first female instructor.Tue, 21 Mar 2017 11:40:01 -0400MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2017/scene-at-mit-ellen-swallow-richards-womens-laboratory-0321<p>Women's History Month is a perfect time to celebrate one of MIT’s own legendary women — Ellen Henrietta Swallow Richards, the Institute's first female graduate and faculty member and a pioneer in water quality, nutritional safety, and ecology.</p>
<p>Richards earned an undergraduate degree at Vassar College in 1870. Later that year, she was admitted to MIT as a special student of chemistry, and she arrived on campus in January 1871. When she graduated in 1873, she was already an established water scientist.</p>
<p>In 1875, she married fellow MIT alumnus Robert Richards, a professor of mining engineering at the Institute, and the couple spent their&nbsp;honeymoon in Nova Scotia <a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/s/408456/ellencyclopedia/" target="_blank">touring mines&nbsp;and collecting ore samples</a> along with dozens of MIT students.</p>
<p>The following year, Ellen Swallow Richards raised money to launch the&nbsp;<a href="http://libraries.mit.edu/archives/exhibits/esr/esr-womenslab.html" target="_blank">MIT Women’s Laboratory</a>, where she taught chemical analysis, industrial chemistry, mineralogy, and biology to women. That lab, which drew some 500 students, closed in 1883 when women became part of the regular student body. The following year, Richards was appointed an instructor in sanitary chemistry, a post she held until her death in 1911.</p>
<p>Richards was highly influential in numerous areas throughout her career. In 1881, she raised funds to establish a marine biology laboratory that would became the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Her 1878-79 studies of adulterated foods revealed mahogany sawdust masquerading as cinnamon and sand in sugar; her findings prompted the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to pass its first food and drug safety acts. In 1887, Massachusetts commissioned MIT’s new sanitary chemistry lab to survey the commonwealth's drinking water, the first such study in the U.S.&nbsp;<a href="http://news.mit.edu/2011/timeline-richards-0126" target="_self">Led by Richards</a>, the survey examined some 20,000 water samples for industrial waste and sewage. As a result, Massachusetts established America’s first water-quality standards and municipal sewage-treatment plant. In 1890, Richards pioneered the New England Kitchen, a scientific take-out restaurant designed to feed nutritious and inexpensive food to the poor. This led to a similar demo kitchen in the 1894 World’s Fair and the revamping of the Boston Public School lunch program. Richards wrote or co-authored 18 books from academic texts to manuals on the chemistry of cooking for housewives and founded the popular&nbsp;<em>American Kitchen Magazine</em>. And in 1899, as a way to build consensus and clarity in the new field of home science, Richards established an annual conference. The hosting group, which developed curricula and teacher training, became the American Home Economics Association, with Richards as president.</p>
<p>Throughout her life, Richards remained committed to women's education. In addition to her work in the Women's Laboratory, Richards taught a correspondence course for women by sending them microscopes, specimens, and lessons to examine their home environments. And in 1882, she co-founded a group supporting women’s education; that group grew into today’s American Association of University Women.</p>
<p><em>Submitted by: Nancy DuVergne Smith/MIT Alumni Association&nbsp; </em>| <em>Photo courtesy of the MIT Museum</em></p>
<p><em>Have a creative photo of campus life you'd like to share? <a href="mailto:sceneatmit@mit.edu?subject=Scene%20at%20MIT">Submit it</a> to Scene at MIT.</em><span id="cke_bm_330E" style="display: none;">&nbsp;</span></p>
Ellen Swallow Richards (back row, far left) stands in 1888 with students from the MIT Women’s Laboratory, which she founded in the previous year.Photo courtesy of the MIT Museum.History of MIT, Women in STEM, Faculty, Alumni/ae, Scene at MIT, History, Civil and environmental engineering, Chemistry, Chemical engineering, Environment, Food, Water, Pollution, Women, School of ScienceTwo from MIT recognized as outstanding engineering leadershttps://news.mit.edu/2017/two-from-mit-recognized-as-outstanding-engineering-leaders-0315
Grad students Kristen Railey and Alexander Feldstein were named to the Aviation Week Network’s “20 Twenties” for 2017.Wed, 15 Mar 2017 17:05:01 -0400Meg Cichon | Lincoln Laboratoryhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/two-from-mit-recognized-as-outstanding-engineering-leaders-0315<p>Alexander Feldstein '15, an MIT graduate student in aerospace engineering, and Kristen Railey '13, an MIT graduate student in mechanical engineering and former technical staff member in MIT Lincoln Laboratory’s Advanced Undersea Systems and Technology Group, were selected as two of the Aviation Week Network’s “20 Twenties” for 2017.</p>
<p>The "Tomorrow's Engineering Leaders: The 20 Twenties" awards program recognizes the top science, technology, engineering, and math undergraduate and graduate students for their academic excellence, research and projects they undertake, and their contributions to the broader community. The 2017 winners were honored during Aviation Week's 60th Annual Laureate Awards on March 2 at the National Building Museum in Washington.</p>
<p>"One of the pillars of our service to the aerospace community is actively engaging and developing next-generation technology talent who are essential to the future of this exceptional industry," said Greg Hamilton, Aviation Week Network president. "Truly, this year's nominees and winners represent the best in terms of their talent, their creativity, and their ability."</p>
<p>In collaboration with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the Aviation Week Network reviewed nominations from 37 universities. This year’s nomination pool was particularly competitive, with more than 70 of the top scores differing by just hundredths of a point.</p>
<p>Railey first worked with Lincoln Laboratory in 2012 as an undergraduate in the MIT Engineering Systems Design and Engineering Systems Development courses, which are capstone courses sponsored by Beaver Works. As part of a 25-member team, Railey worked to create a novel power supply system for unmanned underwater vehicles that produces hydrogen from a reaction between aluminum and seawater.</p>
<p>In 2014, Railey joined Lincoln Laboratory as assistant staff in the Rapid Prototyping Group and then moved to the Advanced Capabilities and Systems Group. In 2015, she joined the then newly developed Advanced Undersea Systems and Technology Group, where she programmed, designed, and analyzed robotic underwater military defense systems and their components. During her time at the laboratory, Railey was heavily involved in outreach programs. She founded the Girls Who Build workshop series, which encourages young women to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. For example, the Girls Who Build Cameras workshop teaches girls how to build a Raspberry Pi camera and how to program Instagram-like image filters. Railey also published online curricula for the Make Your Own Wearables and Girls Who Build Cameras workshops for students and educators to freely download. MIT also offers the workshops among its online coursework.</p>
<p>“Kristen has been an impressive force in the impact she had made on students in STEM initiatives. Her efforts in inspiring young girls to get interested in engineering through creative workshops has been very effective.” said David Granchelli, manager of the Communications and Community Outreach Office at Lincoln Laboratory. “Kristen reminds girls at the workshops that they can do anything and pursue any career that they want by believing in themselves and working hard.”</p>
<p>In 2016, Railey became a PhD candidate in the MIT/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute joint program, which is considered one of the world’s most prestigious graduate degree programs in marine science. During the two-year Oceanographic Engineering program, Railey will focus her research on signal processing and autonomy in underwater robotics. She is also a joint Draper and National Defense Science and Engineering Fellow. Railey holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from MIT.</p>
<p>Alexander Feldstein is a graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro). His research focuses on multi-fidelity, uncertainty quantification, and design under uncertainty techniques for complex system design. He has held internships working on aircraft design at the Cessna Aircraft Company (now Textron Aviation) and The Boeing Company.</p>
<p>During his undergraduate studies, he worked as a student researcher at the Aerospace Computational Design Laboratory, aiding in the design of an optimization algorithm chooser. He was also a researcher at MIT’s Gas Turbine Laboratory, where he assisted with wind tunnel testing of the D8 model aircraft.</p>
<p>During his senior year of undergraduate work, he was the co-winner of the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering de Florez Award for a project on the use of zero-net mass-flux jets for wing flutter control. Feldstein was also recognized with the AeroAstro Teaching Assistantship Award. He holds a bachelor’s degree in aeronautics and astronautics from MIT.</p>
<p>The Aviation Week Network is the largest multimedia information and services provider for the global aviation, aerospace, and defense industries. The “20 Twenties” awards were established in 2009 in partnership with Raytheon Company.</p>
The Aviation Week Network’s 2017 “20 Twenties” winners were honored during an awards ceremony in March. MIT graduate students Kristen Railey (front row, fourth from left) and Alexander Feldstein (second row from bottom, first from left) were among the honorees.Photo: Chris ZimmerAwards, honors and fellowships, Students, graduate, Graduate, postdoctoral, Mechanical engineering, Aeronautical and astronautical engineering, Woods Hole, Lincoln Laboratory, School of Engineering, Women in STEM, STEM education, K-12 education, AviationWomen of NASA LEGO set blasts off https://news.mit.edu/2017/women-nasa-lego-set-0302
MIT staffer’s creation celebrating the history of women in the U.S. space program selected to become official LEGO set. Thu, 02 Mar 2017 10:30:00 -0500Abby Abazorius | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2017/women-nasa-lego-set-0302<p>For years, Maia Weinstock, the deputy editor of <em>MIT News</em>, has been <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pixbymaia/sets/72157623988000684/">creating miniature LEGO figurines</a> to honor and promote such scientists and engineers as MIT Institute Professor Emerita Mildred Dresselhaus, Vice President for Research Maria T. Zuber, and Department of Chemical Engineering head Paula Hammond, the David H. Koch Chair Professor in Engineering. The figures are Weinstock’s playful way of boosting the visibility of scientists, in particular the work of female scientists.</p>
<p>Now, a set of LEGOs Weinstock created celebrating the history of women at NASA is about to blast off. On Tuesday, LEGO <a href="https://ideas.lego.com/blogs/1-blog/post/121">announced</a> that Weinstock’s project, which spotlights five women who made historic contributions to the U.S. space program, has been selected to become an official LEGO set.</p>
<p>“What a wonderful way to celebrate the scientific achievements of these five pioneering women,” says Zuber, the E.A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics and the first woman to lead a NASA planetary mission. “And I’m thrilled with the message that these LEGOs will send to girls — that they, too, can pursue their passions in science, technology, engineering, and math, and help make a better world.”</p>
<p>Last summer Weinstock submitted her concept, dubbed the <a href="https://ideas.lego.com/projects/147876">Women of NASA</a>, to LEGO Ideas, a platform that allows people around the world to propose new ideas for LEGO concepts. After a public voting period, during which Weinstock’s set received 10,000 votes in 15 days, her project underwent an official LEGO review.</p>
<p>Weinstock was inspired to create the set by her love of space and NASA, and her desire to showcase the contributions that women have made over the years to the field of space exploration. Above all, she hopes the set will help encourage more young girls to pursue STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and math).</p>
<p>“I hope that ‘Women of NASA’ will be one little extra brick in the wall of trying to improve how women are perceived and shown in books, toys, and family programming,” Weinstock explains. “Anything I can do to help make sure girls understand that they can and should be interested in the sciences, engineering, and math, that is my goal. At the end of the day, that’s why I am doing this.”</p>
<p>The set depicts five trailblazers in NASA’s history: <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2016/apollo-code-developer-margaret-hamilton-receives-presidential-medal-of-freedom-1117">Margaret Hamilton</a>, a computer scientist who led the development of software for the Apollo missions while at MIT; Mae Jemison, who became the first African-American woman in space in 1992; Katherine Johnson, known for calculating and verifying trajectories for the Mercury and Apollo programs; Sally Ride, who became the first American woman in space in 1983; and astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, one of the first female executives at NASA, who was instrumental in the planning of the Hubble Space Telescope.</p>
<p>Weinstock explains that she wanted the set to feature “a very diverse group of women in terms of what they did, in terms of their fields at NASA, in terms of their cultural backgrounds, and also in terms of their age. Some are shown as younger, but I made sure I had one shown as older. Also, most of the women in the set are known for their work in the space flight program at NASA, but I wanted to give a shout out to the astronomy program as well.”</p>
<p>Weinstock began creating LEGO figures back in 2009, when she constructed a LEGO likeness for her friend Carolyn Porco, a planetary scientist known for her imaging work on the Voyager and Cassini missions. After sharing an image of Porco’s LEGO figurine on Twitter, Weinstock received an outpouring of positive feedback and was inspired to create more figures in an effort to help promote the work of living scientists.</p>
<p>Since she built her first figurine, Weinstock has created LEGOs for a number of celebrated scientists and engineers, including primatologist Jane Goodall, oceanographer Sylvia Earle, physicist Stephen Hawking, and a number of MIT faculty members such as Ernest Moniz, professor of physics and special advisor to the president, and Sangeeta Bhatia, the John and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.</p>
<p>“Being immortalized in LEGO is probably the coolest thing that has ever happened to me,” Bhatia says. “I hope it makes lots of little tinkerers dream about being engineers at MIT someday.”</p>
<p>Weinstock explains that she chose LEGOs as her medium as she feels “there is a childlike wonder to playing with a toy that you can make in people’s likeness.”</p>
<p>“One major goal for me is to get the public to recognize the history of women in the STEM fields. I’m hopeful that with this set more people will come to know these women,” Weinstock says. “Part of it is knowing these specific five women, but also part of it is setting an example. It’s really important to set an example for girls, as well as for boys, to normalize and make plain that women are expected to be in these fields and that it’s not strange or unusual.”</p>
Minifigures of five NASA pioneers — from left to right, Margaret Hamilton, Katherine Johnson, Sally Ride, Nancy Grace Roman, and Mae Jemison — will appear in an official LEGO set originally designed by MIT staff member Maia Weinstock.Courtesy of Maia WeinstockCommunity, Staff, Women in STEM, Diversity and inclusion, Space, astronomy and planetary science, NASA, Space exploration, K-12 education, STEM education3Q: Leora Cooper on the legacy of her grandmother, Mildred Dresselhaushttps://news.mit.edu/2017/3q-leora-cooper-legacy-of-her-grandmother-mildred-dresselhaus-0227
After Dresselhaus’ recent passing, GE invited PhD candidate Leora Cooper to walk the red carpet at the 2017 Academy Awards in her grandmother&#039;s stead.Mon, 27 Feb 2017 16:50:01 -0500Danielle Randall | Department of Chemistryhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/3q-leora-cooper-legacy-of-her-grandmother-mildred-dresselhaus-0227<p><em>When Institute Professor Emerita Mildred Dresselhaus <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2017/institute-professor-emerita-mildred-dresselhaus-dies-86-0221" target="_self">passed away</a> on Feb. 20, MIT and the national science community lost a leader, not only in terms of her remarkable personal achievements as a nanoscience pioneer, but also her considerable effort to encourage women to seek careers in science. Dresselhaus’ achievements have inspired a great many women to follow in her footsteps — including her granddaughter, Leora Cooper, who is currently pursuing her PhD in physical chemistry with Professor Keith Nelson at MIT.</em></p>
<p><em>As part of a campaign to promote women’s careers in science, GE recently <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ6_fOX7ITQ" target="_blank">released a video</a> that asks, “What if Millie Dresselhaus, female scientist, was treated like a celebrity?” In the spot, little girls play with Dresselhaus dolls and dress up in her signature braids and sweaters, parents name their daughters after her, and Dresselhaus gives celebrity interviews. As part of this campaign, GE also invited Dresselhaus to walk the red carpet at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles. Following Dresselhaus’ death, it was decided that Cooper and her cousin, Clara Dresselhaus, would attend the Academy Awards in the late Institute Professor emerita's place, representing both their grandmother and future generations of female scientists.</em></p>
<p><strong>Q: </strong>How did growing up with one of the great female celebrities in science as a role model affect you, and what advice can you impart upon young girls who aspire to follow in your and your grandmother’s footsteps by seeking careers in STEM fields?</p>
<p><strong>A:</strong> Math and science have been an important part of my life for as long as I can remember. Millie was always very modest and never wanted to impose her ideas on anyone, but science was such a large part of her life that it spilled into everything else she did. As young girls, my sister and I went on science adventures together with our mother or grandmother. We were always encouraged to be curious about our surroundings and to try to learn how things worked. The highlight of many days were my morning rides to school where my father explained how something in science or engineering worked. In family and in mentoring, Millie always led by example. I’m certain that she inspired the family spirit that science holds answers to the world around us. It wasn’t until later in my life that I started to understand that other young girls got very different childhood messages.</p>
<p>As I have progressed through college and now graduate school, I see inequalities that I didn’t notice as a child. I see minorities having difficulty receiving the opportunities they deserve, I see honest immigrants being turned away at the border, and I have watched women get discouraged from pursuing careers in all walks of life. I came to understand that Millie’s success story was an anomaly and not the norm. As I started struggling with many of these same issues, I started speaking with her about how changes should be made, but I always assumed that change would need to come from others. During her career, Millie gave talks in at least 30 countries, and she had advisory capacities in numerous universities, foundations, and even government agencies across the world. By example, she showed me that a career in STEM can give a voice to the issues that surround us. In my years with Millie at MIT, we began talking about ideas for changes that could help women to succeed, but in our last year together she showed me how to stand up and start seeing those ideas through to reality. She has shown me that a STEM career can give you a voice to see these changes become a reality.</p>
<p>My cousin, Clara, is the next generation. She is thinking of going into STEM now, and will have to be strong enough to get through these same issues that generations before her have contend with. Her grandmother gave her a wonderful role model, but not a guide as she begins to face these difficulties. Like other women in STEM, she will need to build her own support group to get the support and mentorship she needs to continue. But if scientists in our generation follow Millie’s example and push, we can make this easier in future.</p>
<p>For young girls, my advice is to keep asking questions, even if you need to work to find the answers. Don’t ever let yourself say “I must not be good at this”; instead, ask yourself, “what did I miss here?” But from Millie, I have learned that inspiring young girls to pursue STEM is only the first hurdle. The advice should never stop. We all benefit from having a base of people to advise us and help us continue to achieve our dreams. My advice to women, from young girls to established women, is to stand up when you see something that isn’t right, and start working to make these changes happen in the world around us.</p>
<p><strong>Q: </strong>What does appearing on the Academy Awards’ red carpet in your grandmother’s stead mean to you?</p>
<p><strong>A:</strong> This experience honors Millie in more ways than you would expect. As a poor girl growing up in the Bronx, Millie didn’t have the money she needed to see the movies like her friends. To join them, she took a job reviewing movies for a local newspaper, which gave her free tickets. Millie always said that this job first taught her how to write clearly and succinctly. Even at the end of her life, she wrote papers longhand on her lap, as she learned from those days.</p>
<p>For my part, I have seen the red carpet at the Academy Awards as a mythical place that just wasn’t for people like me. I always saw the society and science as versions of “cool” that rarely overlapped. Going into science has isolated me a lot from pop culture, but getting to bring the two together is a special opportunity. As a high school student, Clara Dresselhaus has watched more movies and followed the actors more than I have. Her connection to popular culture gives her a better understanding of how the younger generation responds to science and technology and how to get them excited by it. Clara and I can make a team that understands how to bring the important issues in science and pop culture together, just as Millie always encouraged in scientific collaborations across fields.</p>
<p>When GE first gave Millie the script for the Real Heroes commercial, she was extremely hesitant to let it take her away from her students, as she didn’t understand the point. She showed it to me and asked what I thought she should do. The script described scenes that painted a picture of her as a modern celebrity because of her scientific achievements, inspiring even young girls who couldn’t yet understand her contributions. With the help of her assistant, Read Schusky, I explained to her that being part of the commercial would allow her to inspire a new demographic that can be hard to reach as scientists. The commercial aired shortly before her death, and Millie never got a chance to see the impact that it will make.&nbsp;</p>
<div class="cms-placeholder-content-video"></div>
<p>GE’s invitation to attend the Academy Awards on her behalf is almost the very definition of bittersweet. Millie’s invitation gives me hope that society is learning how to value female scientists for their achievements and contributions. Millie always loved having interdisciplinary projects bring seemingly unrelated fields together. I wish she could have laughed and enjoyed seeing science and entertainment come together in this wonderful way. Millie always knew when her students needed a little push to be able to achieve something new. In walking the red carpet, I see Millie giving me that push she knew I needed to learn how to reach out to the women of the next generation. For me, the red carpet represents both the loss of my grandmother and mentor, and the opportunity to continue her legacy of encouraging society to value science.</p>
<p><strong>Q: </strong>What positive impact will the Hollywood representation of female pioneers in science like your grandmother and the women whose stories are featured in the Oscar-nominated film “Hidden Figures” have on the future of women in STEM fields?</p>
<p><strong>A:</strong> Science and Hollywood both spread new information to wide groups of people across the world, but they access different venues. While films reach a general demographic, science is still widely viewed as unintelligible. At MIT, most of us are familiar with trying to explain our work to a non-technical person only to have them respond, “don’t bother, I won’t understand it.” Even the most general of science talks and events have trouble reaching these non-technical people. Hollywood gives science a voice that can be heard by the non-technical. This allows people from non-technical parts of the world to see a life that they do not know or understand.</p>
<p>Without being accustomed to the struggles female scientists often face, non-technical people who see films like “Hidden Figures” can see injustices they weren’t aware of. This allows us to celebrate people who have overcome these injustices in much the way that Millie and the stars of “Hidden Figures” have at MIT and NASA respectively. These are often injustices that go unnoticed by people within STEM because the ubiquity of it causes us to become accustomed to it. Women’s suffrage and the civil rights movements have shown us that society better addresses issues that have a common voice. The Hollywood representation of female scientists as underrepresented heroes can help the world recognize the importance of encouraging women in STEM.&nbsp;</p>
Clara Dresselhaus (left) and MIT graduate student Leora Cooper experience the red carpet at the 2017 Academy Awards, through sponsorship from GE. The women were invited to walk in honor of their grandmother, the late Mildred Dresselhaus, who starred in a recent GE campaign focused on supporting women in the STEM fields.Photo courtesy of Leora Cooper.Women in STEM, Faculty, Students, Graduate, postdoctoral, Chemistry, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (eecs), Physics, Diversity and inclusion, Film and Television, Science communications, School of Science, School of Engineering3Q: Suzy Nelson on protections for transgender students at MIThttps://news.mit.edu/2017/3q-suzy-nelson-protections-transgender-students-0227
The Institute’s nondiscrimination policies will continue to offer vital protections for MIT’s transgender community, says the vice president and dean for student life.Mon, 27 Feb 2017 14:10:04 -0500Division of Student Lifehttps://news.mit.edu/2017/3q-suzy-nelson-protections-transgender-students-0227<p><em>Vice President and Dean for Student Life Suzy Nelson arrived at the Division of Student Life (DSL) on July 1, 2016, bringing with her 32 years of experience building open, effective partnerships with students through her work at Colgate University, Harvard University, Cornell University, and Syracuse University. Nelson’s commitment to enhancing all aspects of the student life experience is evident in her recent work to renew residence halls and student spaces, promote student wellbeing, and make MIT a welcoming campus for everyone. Following last week’s federal action related to protections for transgender students, Nelson sat down to reaffirm MIT’s support for all students, reflect on how they give her “hope” in the current political climate, and update the community on efforts to promote diversity and inclusion.</em></p>
<p><strong>Q:</strong> Last week, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education withdrew guidelines from the Obama administration designed to ensure&nbsp;"transgender students enjoy a supportive and nondiscriminatory school environment.” Will this decision impact MIT students or policies?</p>
<p><strong>A:</strong> This is an important question because I know the action has created anxiety for members of our transgender community and their friends and allies. I want them to hear directly from me that we are steadfast in our support for them.</p>
<p>The short answer to whether this decision will impact MIT students or policies is no, it absolutely will not. Our commitment to providing an inclusive, welcoming, and respectful educational, living, and working environment has not changed, and it will not change. Gender identity for students and employees is protected under <a href="http://referencepubs.mit.edu/what-we-do/nondiscrimination-policy">MIT’s nondiscrimination policies</a> as well as under Massachusetts state law. Additionally, regardless of the federal Departments’ interpretation of Title IX, MIT believes that transgender students’ gender identities should be respected, including when it comes to restroom access. We are also working to streamline the process so that students can more easily change their name and gender in MIT official records.</p>
<p>I want students who have questions or concerns about this federal action to know they can come to me and the members of the <a href="http://lbgt.mit.edu/">LBGTQ@MIT</a> and <a href="https://titleix.mit.edu/">Title IX</a> teams. We are ready to answer any questions they may have and to support them in any way we can.</p>
<p><strong>Q: </strong>Changes in federal policies have prompted strong responses from the MIT student community. What are your impressions of how they have been organizing and speaking out?</p>
<p><strong>A:</strong> Many students are speaking out about issues that affect them and others whom they know. In a respectful and thoughtful way, MIT’s students have raised up their concerns about social issues and the recent executive orders. I have been impressed by students’ openness to dialogue, especially when there is profound disagreement and division within our country.</p>
<p>This is the type of level-headed thinking that gives me hope because coming together is what we need to do right now. Moreover, our actions need to be guided by critical thinking and our ability to listen and to empathize with each other. In the end, it is the bond of humanity that unites us. And it’s that bond that often helps us find common ground when we disagree.</p>
<p>Even before the change in administrations, I was impressed by how engaged and involved MIT students are. Students here see the world through a critical lens, and want to make it better. That’s the core of the MIT mission too, and it’s great to see them apply the same lens to their own experience and environment. Their voices are definitely making a difference in the student experience.</p>
<p><strong>Q:</strong> A specific example of where MIT students’ voices are making a difference is in efforts to advance diversity and inclusion, issues that are key priorities for you as well. Can you talk about the ways DSL is working with students, faculty, and staff to make MIT a welcoming campus for all?</p>
<p><strong>A:</strong> Issues of social justice and equity are important to me personally, and they are part of the reason I wanted to work in higher education. When I came to MIT, one of the first things I did was to learn more about the <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2015/black-student-leaders-recommendations-inclusive-1209">recommendations</a> outlined by the Black Students’ Union (BSU), Black Graduate Student Association (BGSA), and many others, and the work being done to implement them.</p>
<p>All students who were involved in developing the recommendations deserve to be commended for their leadership. They applied their critical lens to our environment and developed thoughtful, constructive, and specific solutions to make things better. I also admire how they were careful and purposeful about incorporating the views of all underrepresented students into their recommendations. And I am grateful for their willingness to partner with faculty and staff throughout the implementation process.</p>
<p>I am a member of the Academic Council Working Group President Reif established to help make these recommendations a reality, so I am fortunate to have a front row seat to the progress underway.</p>
<p>DSL was very involved in responding to the recommendation calling for a diversity session at orientation for undergraduates. I was one of the 30 faculty and staff who were trained to help facilitate this session for incoming students last August, and it was very thought-provoking and educational for everyone involved. Student feedback on the session was very positive. I am very pleased that this will be an annual event going forward.</p>
<p>Additionally, MIT has doubled down on its commitment to affordability and accessibility. The financial aid budget rose by 10.4 percent in 2016-17 alone.</p>
<p>Dr. Karen Singleton, a recognized leader in providing multicultural mental healthcare, is now leading Mental Health and Counseling Service and, in the last year, MIT Medical has hired three clinicians with expertise in race-based trauma.</p>
<p>Nearly all of our academic departments have responded to the students’ calls for the development and posting of statements that highlight each department’s commitment to health, diversity, and inclusion. And new <a href="http://web.mit.edu/ir/pop/diversity.html">diversity-related data</a> is being gathered and posted so that we can measure our progress and make informed decisions about next steps.</p>
<p>At DSL, we have identified making a welcoming campus for everyone as a key priority — it’s part of our <a href="http://studentlife.mit.edu/about/deans-office/vp-dean-student-life/mission-and-goals">new mission and agenda</a>. We’ve been approaching this goal from a few different angles:</p>
<ul>
<li>First, we formed a committee to look at diversity and inclusion in our division, and between staff and students. This group is drafting a DSL diversity and inclusion statement, and getting input from a range of people. We expect we will have a final draft by the end of the spring term. As important as the result of this work is, the process itself helps us examine our values and expectations about engaging others in a respectful and caring way.</li>
<li>In the community, DSL and the Institute Community and Equity Office hosted an event last semester with Dr. Mahzarin Banaji from Harvard, who studies hidden bias and co-authored the book, "Blindspot: Hidden Biases of Good People." The main room in Walker Memorial was almost filled, which I found very encouraging.</li>
<li>But, because real change comes from sustained education, we are exploring a series of learning opportunities, including unconscious bias training, that will help DSL staff develop the knowledge, skills, and awareness for cultivating a respectful and welcoming campus community for all.</li>
</ul>
Suzy Nelson, vice president and dean for student lifePhoto: Melanie Gonick/MITChancellor, Administration, Community, 3 Questions, Students, Student life, Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning (LGBTQ), Diversity and inclusionWomen in Data Science conference highlights impactful work and builds communityhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/women-data-science-conference-highlights-impactful-work-and-builds-community-0221
Some 150 academic leaders, industry professionals, and students gather in Cambridge as part of a worldwide Women in Data Science event.Tue, 21 Feb 2017 14:20:01 -0500Stefanie Koperniak | Institute for Data, Systems, and Societyhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/women-data-science-conference-highlights-impactful-work-and-builds-community-0221<p>The Women in Data Science Conference event in Cambridge, Massachusetts — held on Feb. 3 at the Microsoft NERD Center — brought together a full room of approximately 150 academic leaders, industry professionals, and students. The event was co-hosted by the MIT Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (<a href="http://idss.mit.edu" target="_blank">IDSS</a>), the Harvard University <a href="http://iacs.seas.harvard.edu/" target="_blank">Institute for Applied Computational Science</a>, and <a href="http://microsoftnewengland.com/" target="_blank">Microsoft Research New England</a>.<br />
<br />
The day-long event was preceded by the pre-event, “Hacking Bias and Discrimination Ideation Session,” an opportunity for participants to consider the potential for machine learning to introduce different kinds of bias in a number of contexts — and to discuss ways to mitigate this.<br />
<br />
IDSS Executive Director Elizabeth Sikorovsky welcomed attendees to the conference, noting that the Cambridge event was just one of more than 75 Women in Data Science conferences happening worldwide. Likewise, Cathy Chute, executive director of the Harvard Institute for Applied Computational Science, commented that the full room and the extensive roster of similar events worldwide “demonstrated the power of community.”<br />
<br />
Jennifer Chayes, distinguished scientist and managing director of Microsoft Research New England, covered a wide span of different types of networks in her presentation — ranging from computational to biological — and discussed the key considerations for modeling any type of network.<br />
<br />
Chayes noted that, in terms of social networks, the idea of “six degrees of separation” goes back to 1929 short story by Hungarian author Frigyes Karinthy. Stanley Milgram later tested out the idea scientifically in the 1950s. More recently, Facebook has found that the level of connection between its users is in the range of 3-4 degrees.<br />
<br />
A number of the speakers discussed impacts of data science in the medical and health care domains. Dina Katabi, the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, talked about the wireless technology Emerald. This smart box can monitor various health metrics without any sensors on the body and report problems to caregivers. The device can track the most subtle motions — such as breathing and the pulsing of blood from the heart — as well as the speed at which someone is walking. The latter metric, known as “gait velocity,” has become particularly helpful in understanding of progression of chronic diseases.<br />
<br />
Jennifer Listgarten, senior researcher at Microsoft Research New England, talked about machine learning and CRISPR/Cas9, a technique for genome editing.<br />
<br />
Caroline Uhler, the Henry L. and Grace Doherty Assistant Professor of Ocean Utilization in MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, presented some her work in statistics and graphical modeling — highlighting how her work bridges mathematics and applications in areas such as weather and biology.<br />
<br />
“We are in an era where we have a huge amount of data from technological advances, and in order to make sense of all this data and to gain into complex phenomena, we need to be able to characterize the relationships among a large number of [data points],” said Uhler. “Graphical models are one way of characterizing these relationships. The network, of course, not only enhances the credibility—particularly when you have many, many variable — but it also very often leads to inference that can be done in a computational way.”<br />
<br />
Angela Bassa ’03, director of data science at iRobot, shared her experiences and insights from deploying various systems, presenting perspectives from both academia and industry.<br />
<br />
“A huge tension that comes from deploying scientific or advanced academic work in industry is that one side wants to find the correct, pure proof to an answer, and the other side wants to make it run — and make it run in scalable, maintainable way,” said Bassa. “We want to bring that tension of the more academic end of the spectrum — and the more business end of the spectrum — together.”<br />
<br />
The event also featured a livestream of Diane Greene MS ’78, senior vice president in charge of Google's cloud business, speaking at the Women in Data Science conference at Stanford University.<br />
<br />
The day was capped off with a panel discussion moderated by Margo Seltzer, professor of computer science and director of the Center for Research on Computation and Society at Harvard. During the panel discussion, audience members engaged the panelists in questions about bias, mentors, and work-life issues. There was also a question of whether the field of data science itself might be or might become “too hyped.”<br />
<br />
“It doesn’t really matter whether the field of data science is ‘too hyped’ or not,” responded Katabi. “Regardless, it will deliver amazing research — particularly because it is bringing in so many different disciplines.”</p>
Jennifer Chayes, distinguished scientist and managing director of Microsoft Research New England, speaks at the Women in Data Science Conference.Photo: Dawn Colquitt-Anderson/MIT IDSSSpecial events and guest speakers, Data, Analytics, IDSS, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (eecs), Women in STEM, Alumni/ae, School of EngineeringInstitute Professor Emerita Mildred Dresselhaus, a pioneer in the electronic properties of materials, dies at 86https://news.mit.edu/2017/institute-professor-emerita-mildred-dresselhaus-dies-86-0221
“Queen of carbon science” and recipient of Presidential Medal of Freedom and National Medal of Science led US scientific community, promoted women in STEM.Tue, 21 Feb 2017 09:45:00 -0500MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2017/institute-professor-emerita-mildred-dresselhaus-dies-86-0221<p>Mildred S. Dresselhaus, a celebrated and beloved MIT professor whose research helped unlock the mysteries of carbon, the most fundamental of organic elements — earning her the nickname “queen of carbon science” — died Monday at age 86.</p>
<p>Dresselhaus, a solid-state physicist who was Institute Professor Emerita of Physics and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was also nationally known for her work to develop wider opportunities for women in science and engineering. She died at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, following a brief period of poor health.</p>
<p>“Yesterday, we lost a giant — an exceptionally creative scientist and engineer who was also a delightful human being,” MIT President L. Rafael Reif wrote in an email today sharing the news of Dresselhaus’s death with the MIT community. “Among her many ‘firsts,’ in 1968, Millie became the first woman at MIT to attain the rank of full, tenured professor. She was the first solo recipient of a Kavli Prize and the first woman to win the National Medal of Science in Engineering.”</p>
<p>“Millie was also, to my great good fortune, the first to reveal to me the wonderful spirit of MIT,” Reif added. “In fact, her down-to-earth demeanor was a major reason I decided to join this community. … Like dozens of young faculty and hundreds of MIT students over the years, I was lucky to count Millie as my mentor.”</p>
<p>A winner of both the <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2014/dresselhaus-solow-presidential-medal-freedom-1110">Presidential Medal of Freedom</a> (from President Barack Obama, in 2014) and the National Medal of Science (from President George H.W. Bush, in 1990), Dresselhaus was a member of the MIT faculty for 50 years. Beyond campus, she held a variety of posts that placed her at the pinnacle of the nation’s scientific enterprise.</p>
<p>Dresselhaus’s research made fundamental discoveries in the electronic structure of semi-metals. She studied various aspects of graphite and authored a comprehensive book on fullerenes, also known as “buckyballs.” She was particularly well known for her work on nanomaterials and other nanostructural systems based on layered materials, like graphene, and more recently beyond graphene, like transition metal dichalcogenides and phosphorene. Her work on using quantum structures to improve thermoelectric energy conversion reignited this research field.</p>
<div class="cms-placeholder-content-video"></div>
<p><strong>A strong advocate for women in STEM</strong></p>
<p>As notable as her research accomplishments was Dresselhaus’s longstanding commitment to promoting gender equity in science and engineering, and her dedication to mentorship and teaching.</p>
<p>In 1971, Dresselhaus and a colleague organized the first Women’s Forum at MIT as a seminar exploring the roles of women in science and engineering. She received a Carnegie Foundation grant in 1973 to support her efforts to encourage women to enter traditionally male dominated fields of science and engineering. For a number of years, she led an MIT seminar in engineering for first-year students; designed to build the confidence of female students, it always drew a large audience of both men and women.</p>
<p>Just two weeks ago, General Electric released a 60-second <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ6_fOX7ITQ">video featuring Dresselhaus</a> that imagined a world where female scientists like her were celebrities, to both celebrate her achievements as well as to encourage more women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.</p>
<p>Dresselhaus co-authored eight books and about 1,700 papers, and supervised more than 60 doctoral students.</p>
<p>“Millie’s dedication to research was unparalleled, and her enthusiasm was infectious,” says Anantha Chandrakasan, the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and head of MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS). “For the past half-century, students, faculty and researchers at MIT and around the world have been inspired by her caring advice. I was very fortunate to have had her as a mentor, and as an active member of the EECS faculty. She made such a huge impact on MIT, and her contributions will long be remembered.”</p>
<p><strong>Diverted from teaching to physics</strong></p>
<p>Born on Nov. 11, 1930, in Brooklyn and raised in the Bronx, Mildred Spiewak Dresselhaus attended Hunter College, receiving her bachelor’s degree in 1951 and then winning a Fulbright Fellowship to study at Cambridge University.</p>
<p>While she had planned to become a teacher, Rosalyn Yalow — who would go on to win the 1977 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine — encouraged Dresselhaus to pursue physics instead. She ultimately earned her MA from Radcliffe College in 1953 and her PhD in 1958 from the University of Chicago, where she studied under Nobel laureate Enrico Fermi. From 1958 to 1960, Dresselhaus was a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at Cornell University.</p>
<p>Dresselhaus began her 57-year association with MIT in the Solid State Division of Lincoln Laboratory in 1960. In 1967, she joined what was then called the Department of Electrical Engineering as the Abby Rockefeller Mauze Visiting Professor, a chair reserved for appointments of distinguished female scholars. She became a permanent member of the electrical engineering faculty in 1968, and added an appointment in the Department of Physics in 1983.</p>
<p>In 1985, Dresselhaus became the first female Institute Professor, an honor bestowed by the MIT faculty and administration for distinguished accomplishments in scholarship, education, service, and leadership. There are usually no more than 12 active Institute Professors on the MIT faculty.</p>
<p><strong>Scientific leadership and awards</strong></p>
<p>In addition to her teaching and research, Dresselhaus served in numerous scientific leadership roles, including as the director of the Office of Science at the U.S. Department of Energy; as president of the American Physical Society and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; as chair of the governing board of the American Institute of Physics; as co-chair of the recent Decadal Study of Condensed Matter and Materials Physics; and as treasurer of the&nbsp;National Academy of Sciences.</p>
<p>Aside from her Medal of Freedom — the highest award bestowed by the U.S. government upon American civilians — and her Medal of Science, given to the nation’s top scientists, Dresselhaus’s extensive honors included the IEEE Medal of Honor for “leadership and contributions across many fields of science and engineering”; the Enrico Fermi Award from the U.S. Department of Energy for her leadership in condensed matter physics, in energy and science policy, in service to the scientific community, and in mentoring women in the sciences; and the prestigious <a href="https://newsoffice.mit.edu/2013/obama-hosts-dresselhaus-graybiel-and-luu-in-oval-office">Kavli Prize</a> for her pioneering contributions to the study of phonons, electron-phonon interactions, and thermal transport in nanostructures. She was also an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.</p>
<p><strong>Active on campus</strong></p>
<p>Always an active and vibrant presence at MIT, Dresselhaus remained a notable influence on campus until her death. She continued to publish scientific papers on topics such as the development of 2-D sheets of thin electronic materials, and played a role in shaping MIT.nano, a new 200,000-square-foot center for nanoscience and nanotechnology scheduled to open in 2018.</p>
<p>In 2015, Dresselhaus <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2015/it-takes-network-rising-stars-eecs-1118">delivered the keynote address</a> at “<a href="http://risingstars15-eecs.mit.edu/">Rising Stars in EECS</a>,” a three-day workshop for female graduate students and postdocs who are considering careers in academic research. Her remarks, on the importance of persistence, described her experience studying with Enrico Fermi. Three-quarters of the students in that program, she said, failed to pass rigorous exam requirements.</p>
<p>“It was what you did that counted,” Dresselhaus told the aspiring scientists, “and that followed me through life.”</p>
<p>Dresselhaus is survived by her husband, Gene, and by her four children and their families: Marianne and her husband, Geoffrey, of Palo Alto, California; Carl, of Arlington, Massachusetts; Paul and his wife, Maria, of Louisville, Colorado; and Eliot and his wife, Françoise, of France. She is also survived by her five grandchildren — Elizabeth, Clara, Shoshi, Leora, and Simon —&nbsp;and by her many students, whom she cared for very deeply.</p>
<p>Gifts in her memory may be made to <a href="https://annualfund.mit.edu/dresselhaus/">MIT.nano</a>.</p>
Mildred S. DresselhausPhoto: Dominick ReuterFaculty, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (eecs), Physics, Obituaries, Carbon, Materials Science and Engineering, Nanoscience and nanotechnology, Women in STEM, School of Science, School of Engineering, MIT.nanoFuture physician-advocatehttps://news.mit.edu/2017/student-profile-hermoon-worku-0220
Senior Hermoon Worku is pursuing a career dedicated to surgery, advocacy, and teaching. Mon, 20 Feb 2017 00:00:00 -0500Kate Telma | MIT News correspondenthttps://news.mit.edu/2017/student-profile-hermoon-worku-0220<p>Hermoon Worku never missed a day of elementary school until fifth grade, when she began fainting frequently. At a regular check-up, her pediatrician realized that Worku was severely anemic. Her parents took her for a blood transfusion the next day at an Atlanta hospital.</p>
<p>“I was very sad I missed [school] that day,” remembers Worku, now an MIT senior. “But a lot of the patients who were [in my unit] had leukemia. So when my extended family came to visit, and they heard about which wing of the hospital I was in, they were very concerned because they didn’t know the story, and they were concerned I had cancer.”</p>
<p>Looking back, she says that her brush with the hospital was key to her decision to pursue a career in medicine. In addition to undergoing treatment, the 11-year-old Worku had to navigate the situation for her whole family, who emigrated from Ethiopia when she was two. “That medical scare along with the difficulties of communication — my family not really knowing what the doctors were talking about, and my sister and I having to translate — made me more aware of the medical field, and then also made me more aware that I wanted to be an advocate for [patients],” she says. She hopes to one day work as a pediatric or fetal surgeon.</p>
<p><strong>Beginning surgery</strong></p>
<p>Before coming to MIT, Worku worried that she wouldn’t fit in. The MIT of her imagination was a nerdy place, where everyone talked only about math. But “when I came here for CPW [Campus Preview Weekend], I realized that these people were really passionate about what they were doing, and that they were doing really cool things. It’s nerdy, but it’s my kind of nerdy,” she says.</p>
<p>Before starting her first semester, Worku participated in the Interphase EDGE program through the Office of Minority Education. For six weeks, students take courses in physics, calculus, chemistry, and communication, while becoming acclimated to MIT. “[We were] learning how to learn,” Worku says.</p>
<p>Worku returned to Interphase EDGE as a junior and senior, serving as a communications facilitator and living in the dorms with students. “There is something about watching the students improve,” she says. “And there is something about watching them become MIT students, and watching them change, and really find their niche, that is really inspiring.”</p>
<p>“In the future, when I am a physician or a surgeon, I know I want to be in a teaching hospital, and I know I want to help others become who they want to be,” Worku says. “And I want to help [students] through the process. To talk with them through the challenges and share my own experiences because I have had plenty of challenges in the past.”&nbsp;</p>
<p>A biology major, Worku has dedicated herself to acquiring the skills she needs for her future. As a UROP student in the lab of Alan Jasanoff, a professor of biological engineering, brain and cognitive sciences, and nuclear science and engineering, Worku worked with graduate student Sarah Bricault to characterize the reward pathway in rats’ brains using functional MRI imaging.</p>
<p><strong>A language for advocacy</strong></p>
<p>Work knows that, as a practitioner, she will need to be able to communicate directly with her patients. “I really want to be an advocate for my patients, and I know so many U.S. citizens and people [in the U.S.] are Spanish speakers. It’s almost a second main language, so I really wanted to be able to communicate in both English and Spanish,” Worku says.</p>
<p>Worku began studying Spanish as a sophomore and travelled to Madrid with MIT Global Education and Career Development's MIT-Madrid program last year. In addition to taking classes at the Complutense University of Madrid, she shadowed doctors working at the Hospital Sanitas La Moraleja, through the <a href="http://www.eusainternships.org/">EUSA internship program</a>.</p>
<p>“One of my main goals when I was studying abroad was to learn medical Spanish. Specifically, how to interact with patients, what kind of tenses to use, what kind of language is appropriate, what the specific medical terms are for body parts,” Worku says. “I really appreciated being able to learn on my feet like that.”</p>
<p>Throughout the semester, Worku rotated through the urgent care center, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, and pharmacy. She became fast friends with some of the residents and senior physicians whom she shadowed, and even scrubbed in on a C-section. She says she was often treated as a medical student, because the Spanish medical school system is combined with the undergraduate system. “I actually did suction, [something I had] only seen on ‘Grey’s Anatomy.’ It was really exciting for me to actually be involved and interact with patients,” Worku says.</p>
<p><strong>Affiliated</strong></p>
<p>Back at MIT, Worku has worked as an advocate for inclusion across campus. She began as a student worker in the Rainbow Lounge, a space for connecting and supporting all LGBTQ activities on campus. In addition to planning weekly events, sharing upcoming programming with other students, and keeping the lounge open as a physical meeting space, last year Worku worked with Aquil Fannis ’16 and Michael Holachek, now a senior, to create Affiliated, a project to create a more queer-inclusive culture at fraternities, sororities, and independent living groups (FSILGs).</p>
<p>Worku sees Affiliated’s mission as starting conversations between LGBTQ students and allies and the rest of the student community. “At the end of the [last] semester we had an ‘Ask a Queer Person’ booth, and we really asked the community to let us know what they wanted to know, so we could help educate. That is part of our initiative: education and advocacy,” she says.</p>
<p>This semester, Worku is launching Affiliated’s chapter advocacy program. “We want to fill in the gaps of knowledge that exist. A really big part of the [program] is for the FSILGs to request us. That is the first step they are taking, saying ‘Hey we want to be more inclusive, and part of the way is having you come educate us.’ And then we will ask them what they want to be educated on, and tailor our presentations around their specific organization and their culture,” she explains.</p>
<p>Worku plans to enter medical school and combine teaching, patient advocacy, and hands-on surgery after working as tutor in a Match Charter school in the Boston Area next year. She hopes to return to Ethiopia periodically to work in a relief clinic.</p>
<p>As a physician, Worku intends to work with each of her patients holistically. “When I pursue my MD I am also going to be pursuing a public health master’s, so that I can really look at how all aspects of people’s identities affect their medical care, and affect their lives in general. I think that is really important to look at the patient as a whole, in a way that I feel like in the past it wasn’t necessarily done.”</p>
“[W]hen I came here for CPW [Campus Preview Weekend], I realized that these people were really passionate about what they were doing, and that they were doing really cool things. It’s nerdy, but it’s my kind of nerdy,” senior Hermoon Worku says.
Photo: Ian MacLellanProfile, Students, Undergraduate, Medicine, Health care, Biology, Student life, Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning (LGBTQ), Diversity and inclusion, School of Science, SHASS, Global Education and Career DevelopmentPutting data in the hands of doctorshttps://news.mit.edu/2017/putting-data-in-the-hands-of-doctors-regina-barzilay-0216
Computer scientist Regina Barzilay empowers cancer treatment with machine learning.Thu, 16 Feb 2017 00:00:15 -0500Meg Murphy | School of Engineeringhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/putting-data-in-the-hands-of-doctors-regina-barzilay-0216<p>Regina Barzilay is working with MIT students and medical doctors in an ambitious bid to revolutionize cancer care.&nbsp;She is relying on a tool largely unrecognized in the oncology world but deeply familiar to hers: machine learning.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Barzilay, the Delta Electronics Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014. She soon learned that good data about the disease is hard to find. “You are desperate for information — for data,” she says now. “Should I use this drug or that? Is that treatment best? What are the odds of recurrence? Without reliable empirical evidence, your treatment choices become your own best guesses.”</p>
<p>Across different areas of cancer care — be it diagnosis, treatment, or prevention — the data protocol is similar. Doctors start the process by mapping patient information into structured data&nbsp;by hand, and then run basic statistical analyses to identify correlations. The approach is primitive compared with what is possible in computer science today, Barzilay says.</p>
<p>These kinds of delays and lapses (which are not limited to cancer treatment), can really hamper scientific advances, Barzilay says. For example, 1.7 million people are diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. every year, but only about 3 percent enroll in clinical trials, according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Current research practice relies exclusively on data drawn from this tiny fraction of patients. “We need treatment insights from the other 97 percent receiving cancer care,” she says.</p>
<p>To be clear: Barzilay isn’t looking to up-end the way current clinical research is conducted. She just believes that doctors and biologists — and patients — could benefit if she and other data scientists lent them a helping hand. Innovation is needed and the tools are there to be used.</p>
<p>Barzilay has struck up new research collaborations, drawn in MIT students, launched projects with doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital, and begun empowering cancer treatment with the machine learning insight that has already transformed so many areas of modern life.</p>
<p><strong>Machine learning, real people </strong></p>
<p>At the MIT Stata Center, Barzilay, a lively presence, interrupts herself mid-sentence, leaps up from her office couch, and runs off&nbsp;to check on her students.</p>
<p>She returns with a laugh. An undergraduate group is assisting Barzilay with a federal grant application, and they’re down to the wire on the submission deadline. The funds, she says, would enable her to pay the students for their time. Like Barzilay, they are doing much of this research for free, because they believe in its power to do good. “In all my years at MIT I have never seen students get so excited about the research and volunteer so much of their time,” Barzilay says.</p>
<p>At the center of Barzilay’s project is machine learning, or algorithms that learn from data and find insights without being explicitly programmed where to look for them. This tool, just like the ones Amazon, Netflix,&nbsp;and other sites use to track and predict your preferences as a consumer, can make short work of gaining insight into massive quantities of data.</p>
<p>Applying it to patient data can offer tremendous assistance to people who, as Barzilay knows well, really need the help. Today, she says, a woman cannot retrieve answers to simple questions such as: What was the disease progression for women in my age range with the same tumor characteristics?</p>
<p><strong>What a machine can see</strong></p>
<p>Working closely with collaborators Taghian Alphonse, chief of breast radiation oncology at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH); Kevin Hughes, co-director of the Avon Comprehensive Breast Evaluation Center at MGH; and Constance Lehman, the chief of the breast imaging division at MGH, Barzilay intends to bring data science into clinical research nationwide. But first, she’s content with connecting her world with theirs.</p>
<p>Barzilay’s work in natural language processing (NLP)&nbsp;enables machines to search, summarize, and interpret textual documents, such as those about cancer patients in pathology reports. Using NLP tools, she and her students extracted clinical information from 108,000 reports provided by area hospitals. The database they've created has an accuracy rate of 98 percent. Next she wants to incorporate treatment outcomes into it.</p>
<p>For another study, Barzilay has developed a database that Hughes and his team can use to monitor the development of atypias, which help identify which patients are at risk of developing cancer later in life.</p>
<p>Machines are good at making predictions — “Why not throw all the information you have about a breast cancer patient into a model?” she says — but Barzilay is wary of having the recommendations arrive as highly complex, computational recommendations without explanation. Jointly with Tommi Jaakkola, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, and graduate student Tao Lei, she is also developing interpretable neural models that can justify and explain the machine-based predictive reasoning.</p>
<p>Barzilay is also looking at how new tools can help do preventive work. Mammograms contain lots of information that may be hard for a human eye to decipher. Machines can detect subtle changes and are more capable of detecting low-level patterns. Jointly with Lehman and graduate student Nicolas Locascio, Barzilay is applying deep learning for automating analysis of mammogram data. As the first step, they are aiming to compute density and other scores currently derived by radiologists who manually analyze these images. Their ultimate goal is to identify patients who are likely to develop a tumor before it’s even visible on a mammogram, and also to predict which patients are heading toward recurrence after their initial treatment.</p>
<p>Ultimate success, Barzilay says, will involve drawing on computer science in unexpected ways, and pushing it in a variety of new health-related directions.</p>
<p>Outside her door, several of Barzilay’s students are talking ideas, hunching over laptops, and drinking coffee. An object set against the back wall resembles an odd coatrack. Guided by an idea from Taghian, six undergraduate students, led by graduate student Julian Straub, built a device that uses machine-learning to detect lymphedema, a swelling of the extremities that can be caused by the removal of or damage to lymph nodes as part of cancer treatment. It can be disabling and incurable unless detected early. Because of their high cost, these machines — lymphometers —&nbsp;are rare in the U.S.; very few hospitals have them.</p>
<p>Students have created an affordable version. And they hope to start testing this device at MGH in a couple of months. “These students are doing amazing work,” says Barzilay. “These innovations will make a really big difference.&nbsp;It is an entry point. There is so much to do. We are just getting started.”</p>
MIT Professor Regina Barzilay has struck up new research collaborations, drawn in MIT students, launched projects with local doctors, and begun empowering cancer treatment with the machine-learning insight that has already transformed many areas of modern life.Photo: Lillie Paquette/School of EngineeringProfile, Data, Computer science and technology, Artificial intelligence, Research, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (eecs), Cancer, Women, Machine learning, Health care, School of Engineering3 Questions: Emma Teng on “China Comes to Tech” https://news.mit.edu/2017/3-questions-emma-teng-china-comes-tech-0210
New exhibit delves into history of Chinese students at MIT. Thu, 09 Feb 2017 23:59:59 -0500Peter Dizikes | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2017/3-questions-emma-teng-china-comes-tech-0210<p><em>Today MIT has extensive ties to China, but few people know how old those ties really are. The first Chinese student at MIT arrived on campus in 1877, and roughly 400 students from China matriculated at the Institute over the next half-century. Among other accomplishments, Chinese graduates of MIT helped pioneer early aircraft at Boeing and advanced research in areas including microwave spectroscopy and nonlinear control theory. Chinese students at MIT also starred in collegiate sports, from wrestling to tennis, track, and soccer. Now, a new on-campus exhibit, “China Comes to Tech: 1877-1931,” gathers materials from this chapter in MIT history for the first time. The exhibit opens today, Feb. 10, and runs free of charge through November, in MIT’s Maihaugen Gallery in Building 14N. MIT News talked with Emma Teng, a professor of history and global studies who helped develop and curate the exhibit. &nbsp;</em><br />
&nbsp;<br />
<strong>Q:</strong> When did Chinese students start coming to MIT, and why?&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
<strong>A:</strong> A lot of people don’t know that Chinese students were here this early, but in 1877 one student [Mon Cham Cheong] from Guangdong, China, matriculated at MIT’s School of Mechanic Arts. Then, beginning in 1879, a batch of eight students on the Chinese Educational Mission came here under the sponsorship of the Chinese government. The students at that time were mainly focused on learning railroad engineering, mining engineering, mechanical engineering, and naval architecture. Soon, MIT became one of the favorite destinations for Chinese science and engineering students.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
MIT was well ahead of the curve in terms of U.S. institutions with international students: In the 100 years between 1854 and 1954, MIT granted the third-highest number of degrees to students from China [among all universities], which I think is very impressive. The MIT faculty and administration did a lot to encourage the students from China. When the Chinese government recalled the Chinese Educational Mission students back to China in 1881, the MIT faculty banded together and wrote a strong letter of remonstrance to the Chinese government. They were really trying to support the students to stay here and finish their educations.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
<strong>Q:</strong> What was the overall experience like for these students?&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
<strong>A:</strong> The early students faced a number of challenges. Not only were they learning a rigorous science and engineering curriculum, but they also had to master English and adjust to a new culture. One of the things I learned was how immersed the early students were, especially those who came in the 1910s and 1920s, in all aspects of MIT student life. They participated in athletics, debate, theater, the professional societies, … the Institute Committee; they were really involved in virtually every aspect of student life. There were Chinese students who were president and vice president of the naval architecture society. There was a Chinese student who became captain of the wrestling team. … [Another] was captain of the tennis team and went on to lead China’s first Davis Cup team. So they excelled in many fields in addition to science and engineering. &nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
We only have a record of one Chinese woman who came here [before 1931]. Her name was Miss Li Fu Lee, and she was married to another engineering student. She came here in 1925, and she was majoring in electrical engineering. She was the first Chinese woman we know of to major in electrical engineering in the United States. She became quite famous in the Chinese student community nationally, [because] she chose a very difficult major at one of the [academically] toughest institutions in the United States. We don’t know very much about what happened to her when she went back to China, but I would love to uncover more about her history.&nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
<strong>Q:</strong> What kinds of things would you like people to consider when they view the exhibit? &nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
<strong>A:</strong> I’m hoping the exhibit will really inspire people to reflect on what international students contribute to MIT and to America at large. I think one of the most powerful lessons that I learned myself is that not only did many Chinese leaders in science and technology in China get their educations here at MIT, but they also contributed a lot to the MIT community during their years here. &nbsp;<br />
&nbsp;<br />
They really worked as cultural ambassadors to let the MIT and greater Boston communities learn more about Chinese culture and history and current events. And they inspired some of our professors to learn more about the history of science in China. They were also an important bridge in bringing MIT alumni and faculty to China in the 1910s and 1920s, sometimes to lecture or teach at the universities, or else to practice engineering in Chinese firms. They really benefitted MIT in many ways. So it’s exciting to see these as a bridge that brought “Tech” back to China, but also promoted knowledge of China here at MIT. And it’s this two-way exchange that international students bring to our communities.&nbsp;</p>
"China Comes to Tech: 1877-1931" gathers materials from this chapter in MIT history for the first time. The exhibit will run through November, in MIT’s Maihaugen Gallery in building 14N.Images courtesy of MIT Museum/Lillian Li; MIT Archives and Special Collections; Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections (MASC), Washington State University LibrariesExhibits, China, History, Libraries, 3 Questions, Student life, Special events and guest speakers, History of MIT, Women in STEM, International initiatives, Alumni/ae, Global Studies and Languages, SHASS, ArtsA new fight with old battle lines https://news.mit.edu/2017/book-france-lgbtq-rights-0202
Book explores what France’s LGBTQ rights battle says about identity and belonging.Thu, 02 Feb 2017 00:00:00 -0500Peter Dizikes | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2017/book-france-lgbtq-rights-0202<p>In April 2013, the French government passed a law giving gay couples the right to marry and adopt children, despite months of public protests against those rights. But why did this measure — enacted well after similar laws in other European countries had already passed — stir so much controversy in a country often regarded as a bastion of personal liberty? Why have some factions of French society been so reluctant to, well, <em>vive la différence</em>?</p>
<p>To MIT Professor <a href="https://mitgsl.mit.edu/faculty-staff-detail/104">Bruno Perreau</a>, this iteration of the global LGBTQ rights debate highlights an important way of grasping an essential tension in French society: France’s ideology of universalism has helped it drive toward equality in some respects, but the country has had trouble accommodating social differences in other regards.</p>
<p>“France defines its identity through the logic of unity,” says Perreau, the Cynthia L. Reed Professor of French Studies and Language in MIT’s Global Studies and Languages program. In this sense the strife over gay rights, like many French disputes, is “about trying to find what’s the totem of the nation.”</p>
<p>Now Perreau has written a book analyzing this political controversy. And his tome, “<a href="http://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=27481">Queer Theory: The French Response</a>,” published by Stanford University Press, examines basic French questions of universalism as well as specific contours of the recent dispute — and recommends a new approach to crafting legal rights in the future.</p>
<p>Perreau, who in June 2016 was named a knight in the Order of Academic Palms by the French government, has written several books, including “The Politics of Adoption: Gender and the Making of French Citizenship” (MIT Press, 2014), which also analyzed matters of rights and citizenship. Perreau’s new work crosses disciplinary boundaries; Bernard Harcourt, a professor of law and political science at Columbia University, calls it “a signature contribution to contemporary political and critical theory.”</p>
<p><strong>An American Invasion? </strong></p>
<p>Perreau grounds his study of the debate in French history; as he sees it, this French rights controversy contains a notable mix of the old and the new, politically.</p>
<p>First, the old: As Perreau suggests in the book, the language of France’s antirights movement echoes other episodes in French history, where minority groups were branded as foreign entities in France’s body politic — for instance, it recalls the antisemitism present in the infamous Dreyfus Affair, over a century ago.</p>
<p>“The fear of separatism, the apparent plot against the state, is still very present,” Perreau says.</p>
<p>As for the new, Perreau explains that people campaigning against LGBTQ rights in France developed an unusual new target of ire: American academics, principally “queer theory” scholars, such as Judith Butler of the University of California at Berkeley, who have recast gender identity issues in recent decades. The opponents of the measure, in Perreau’s account, blame those scholars for helping to fuel the issue in France in new ways.</p>
<p>On one level, as Perreau observes, such assertions bear little weight. After all, the struggle for LGBTQ rights in France rests strongly on many of the same fundamental human rights claims, for equality in civic and family law matters, seen in other countries. Indeed, France itself passed a measure recognizing civil unions in the late 1990s.</p>
<p>Moreover, Perreau notes, it is “quite ironic” to hear claims that American queer theory has threatened French traditions, when many of America’s best-known queer theory scholars were inspired by French academic theorists in the first place. At most, the influence of queer theory in this debate represents “the return of French theory to France,” Perreau observes. &nbsp;</p>
<p>“Claiming there is an American invasion is quite absurd,” Perreau adds, suggesting that anti-LGBTQ rights activists have done this for “strategic reasons,” namely, to draw on a convenient tradition of anti-Americanism.</p>
<p>“They give Anti-American arguments a little twist,” says Perreau. “It’s more effective to use arguments that are already present for other reasons.”</p>
<p>Perreau notes that these old and new concerns have been explicitly connected during the recent debates. As he writes in the book, for antirights activists there has been “a direct link between dread of an American invasion and fear of contagion by a minority culture, that is, the propagation of its erotic, political, and social practices.” On both counts, those activists have continued to hold to an exclusionary vision of French society.</p>
<p><strong>Rethinking rights</strong></p>
<p>But as Perreau views it, the stakes in the recent French debates are not limited to debates and political combat about French universalism. Rather, as he emphasizes in the book, the ongoing disagreement over LBGTQ rights can — and should — lead us to reconsider our foundational ideas about rights and the nature of democratic participation.</p>
<p>In Perreau’s view, academic queer theory has helped us perceive the complexities of gender identity — and made it more difficult for the entire breadth of LGBTQ experiences to be reduced to traditional identity-group politics and rights.</p>
<p>Queer theory, Perreau writes, “views kinship as a way of simultaneously belonging and not belonging” within society, and, given a set of social norms, “approaches citizenship from the perspective of the norm’s failures, gaps, and inability to fully grasp reality.” As such, Perreau suggests, today “a feeling of belonging stems from a challenge to, rather than a sanctification of, the social order.”</p>
<p>In turn, he proposes, rights cannot be based on reductive identities but must take into account what Perreau calls “the multipositional nature of minorities.” As he notes, gay men can be fathers; transsexual women can become mothers; and children grow up with a wide variety of parental relationships. These roles demand a more flexible social compact.</p>
<p>Or, as Perreau writes in the book’s conclusion, “These situations … invent new forms of life that combine several types and levels of identity.” Thus, he contends, “We must invent new rights that are at once personal (accruing to individuals) and relational (accruing to members of various communities).”</p>
<p>To be sure, as Perreau acknowledges, doing this might require “a much more demanding political system” than our current democracies can produce. But it might also allow us — all of us — to more fully realize <em>la différence</em>.</p>
“Queer Theory: The French Response,” by MIT professor Bruno Perreau and published by Stanford University Press, analyzes the dispute over gay rights in France.Photo: Jonathan Sachs/MIT SHASSResearch, SHASS, Faculty, France, Humanities, Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning (LGBTQ), Global Studies and LanguagesCelebrating Pauline Morrow Austin, a founder of radar meteorologyhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/celebrating-pauline-morrow-austin-founder-of-radar-meteorology-0131
MIT faculty, friends, and family gathered to remember Austin&#039;s life and commemorate her contributions to science with the unveiling of an exhibit in EAPS.Tue, 31 Jan 2017 19:00:01 -0500Lauren Hinkel | Oceans at MIThttps://news.mit.edu/2017/celebrating-pauline-morrow-austin-founder-of-radar-meteorology-0131<div>
</div>
<p>Modern meteorology would not be what it is today without contributions from Pauline (Polly) Morrow Austin PhD ’42, a longtime director of MIT’s Weather and Radar Research Project. Last month, MIT recognized her influence on the field of weather radar with a centennial celebration of her birth. Throughout the day, MIT faculty, students, and Austin's friends and family gathered in the MIT Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) to remember her work, share personal moments, and discuss current weather and climate-related research.</p>
<p>The events of the day built to the unveiling of an exhibit on the 16th&nbsp;floor showcasing Austin’s meticulous application of radar to weather study and to MIT’s role in its development. A generous gift from an MIT alum and one of Austin’s longtime colleagues made the exhibit — as well as new equipment for the&nbsp;<a href="http://paocweb.mit.edu/research/synoptic-lab" target="_blank">Synoptic Meteorology Lab</a>, including a weather camera, weather stations, and a display screen for meteorological data — possible, all in Austin's honor.</p>
<div>
<p>“The glass ceiling was not something that Polly acknowledged and continuously broke,” said Austin's daughter, Doris Austin Lerner.</p>
</div>
<p>As one of the first women to graduate from MIT with a doctorate in physics and work in the field of weather radar, Austin set the bar high. She came to MIT in 1939 with degrees in mathematics and physics, and began working with&nbsp;<a href="http://libraries.mit.edu/mithistory/institute/offices/office-of-the-mit-president/julius-adams-stratton-1901-1994/" target="_blank">Professor Julius Adams Stratton</a>, a future president of MIT, on electromagnetic theory and radar, which was developed in England during World War II. In order to develop the technology further, radar research was moved to MIT, where Austin became involved.</p>
<p>She joined the Radiation Laboratory (Rad Lab) at MIT, studying the reflection of megahertz radiowaves off of the ionosphere to extend Long Range Navigation (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LORAN#History" target="_blank">LORAN</a>) from ground waves to skywaves, shared Earle Williams, principal research engineer in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, during the course of the day. This classified work was crucial to wartime efforts and brought Austin recognition from <em>The New York Times</em> in an article, “<a href="https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1942/01/18/85508239.html" target="_blank">Special Roles Vital to Nation Filled by Women Scholars</a>.”</p>
<p>After completing her thesis work on the “Propagation of electromagnetic pulses in the ionosphere,” and with Stratton’s encouragement, Austin joined MIT’s Weather Radar Research Project at its inception in 1946. This was the first critical investigation into how radar technology could be used to monitor weather; she focused on comparing measurements of actual rainfall with those found using radar. “She really had a love affair of measuring rainfall with radar and doing it quantitatively, and she did that for decades. The seeds of that came from the Rad Lab, but she was really working on that until 2004 when she was at MIT the last time,” said Williams. Later, Austin went on to direct the Weather Radar Research Project until she retired. She <a href="http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2011/10/12/pauline_austin_developed_weather_radar_after_wwii/" target="_blank">died in 2011</a> at age 94.</p>
<div>
<p>The scope of Austin's research&nbsp;extended further yet, and arguably she’s best known for her work on a weather radar phenomenon called the “<a href="http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/pdf/10.1175/1520-0469(1950)007%3C0145%3AAQSOTB%3E2.0.CO%3B2" target="_blank">bright band</a>.” This is a feature seen on radar that delineates between rain and snow as you go vertically in the atmosphere, and helps with weather pattern classification. Her work here is still referenced today and can literally be seen across America. “The reason that the whole United States is covered with s-band radar, it’s probably safe to say, [is] because of Polly Austin. In Europe, there are many networks of c-band radars, but Polly knew that if you wanted accurate [rain] measurements, you had to go with s-band,” said Williams. Austin was also instrumental in installing radomes on MIT's Green Building (Building 54), home of EAPS.</p>
</div>
<p>Austin also chaired the American Meteorological Society’s Committee on Radar Meteorology, and in 1974, she was the first woman to be elected a councilor.</p>
<p>Austin, as her students remembered her, was more than a brilliant mind; she was a mentor and scrupulous advisor. Looking on a photo of Austin, Robert A. Houze Jr., professor of atmospheric science at the University of Washington, remarked, “There’s the intelligence in the eyes, the smile, and the soft look that sort of hides the fact she was as tough of an advisor as you’d ever imagine, which was to my great benefit.” She questioned results with a fine-toothed comb, provided constructive feedback, and demanded clarity of thought in scientific writing — an experience each of her former students was all too familiar with. But all present at EAPS on Pauline Austin Day expressed a high level of appreciation for the opportunity to work with her. Houze summed it up: “I’m not exaggerating that this mentorship has had a lasting influence that goes right up through today.”</p>
<p>Several of her students, children, and contemporaries shared moments spent with Austin and described MIT's involvement with radar development. These included Howard Bluestein, Robert C. Copeland, Kerry Emanuel, Robert A. Houze Jr., Lodovica Illari, Frank D. Marks Jr., William M. Silver, Melvin L. Stone, Earle Williams, Marilyn M. Wolfson, and Austin's daughters Doris Austin Lerner and Carol West.</p>
<div>
<p>Following remembrances, attendees of the celebration explored current departmental research through a poster session. Presenters included Vince Agard, Brian Green, Mukund Gupta, Michael McClellan, Diamilet Perez-Betancourt, Madeleine Youngs, Emily Zakem and Maria Zawadowicz. They also toured the Synoptic Lab, posed for photos in front of Austin’s radomes on the roof of the Green Building, and watched as her daughters unveiled the new exhibit honoring Austin and MIT’s radar work.</p>
</div>
<p>Thinking back on Austin, William Silver of the MIT Weather Radar Research Project described her as “mild mannered” — as many before him had done — but noted that Superman’s Clark Kent shared a similar disposition. However, he noted that Austin’s power emanated from her intellect: “Now, that great laboratory is long gone. All that remains, the iconic radomes on the roof. … And as that great laboratory fades from the memory of this building, this Institute, let’s at least not forget Pauline Austin, Class of ’42, PhD physics — one of the founders of radar meteorology [with a] mind of steel.”</p>
Pauline Morrow Austin Photo: MIT Library ArchivesSpecial events and guest speakers, Physics, History of MIT, Earth and atmospheric sciences, EAPS, Radar, Weather, Meteorology, Women in STEM, History of science, Alumni/aeStartMIT’s Innovation Night https://news.mit.edu/2017/startmit-innovation-night-0126
Innovators from a range of fields discuss their pioneering work and their founders’ journey.Thu, 26 Jan 2017 12:10:01 -0500Terri Park | MIT Innovation Initiativehttps://news.mit.edu/2017/startmit-innovation-night-0126<p>Innovators in the fields of materials chemistry, online care, natural language processing, social robotics, and venture capital shared their founders’ journey and how they made impact along the way during a panel discussion at StartMIT’s Innovation Night on Jan. 11 at the MIT Media Lab.</p>
<p>Led by moderator Kym McNicholas, an Emmy Award-winning anchor/reporter/producer and entrepreneur, the cast included MIT faculty members Regina Barzilay, the Delta Electronics Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS); Angela Belcher, the James Mason Crafts Professor in the&nbsp;Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Department of Biological Engineering; and Cynthia Breazeal, associate professor of media arts and sciences; as well as Donna Levin, co-founder of Care.com, entrepreneur-in-residence at the Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship, and lecturer at MIT Sloan School of Management; and Katie Rae, founder and general partner at Project 11 Ventures.</p>
<p>Common themes of passion and timing emerged throughout the conversation as McNicholas asked the panel about topics related to risk, research, inspiration, and failure.</p>
<p>For Belcher, risk wasn’t a factor when she decided to direct her career into the idea of genetically programming organisms to grow into electronics and batteries — a proposal that was met with much skepticism when she was a young professor getting her start. “I didn’t think of it as risky at the time. I thought ‘this is the only thing that I want to do.’” Since then, she’s applied her accomplishments to other fields she’s never explored before, such as cancer. “You’re going to run into obstacles along the way, but you learn these aren’t failures, these are learning experiences. Not everyone’s going to agree you. If more people don’t agree, it’s probably a better idea. You keep going.”</p>
<p>Like Belcher, Barzilay followed her passion by taking her core research focus of natural learning processing in a new direction after undergoing treatment for breast cancer, when as a patient, she was surprised to learn that data science and machine learning were not utilized as part of cancer care in the U.S. “The technology used on Amazon to recommend products was much more sophisticated than what we have today in cancer care,” she commented. Barzilay set about on a new journey and, in collaboration with researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, Barzilay and her team built a system that takes breast pathology and automates the data analysis in a new way with a high level of accuracy. The team is using deep learning to analyze mammogram readings with the goal of using this data to make predictions which humans currently cannot do.</p>
<p>Shifting the focus to timing, McNicholas turned to Breazeal, a pioneer in social robotics and the founder and chief scientist of Jibo, which recently introduced the world’s first social robot for the home. When asked about the moment the research went from the lab to commercialized product, Breazeal said,&nbsp;“I didn’t know when I was starting this work that I would be an entrepreneur, but over time, watching technology, watching the cloud computing revolution, watching the mobile computing revolution, and thinking the elements are coming together. All of these really hard subfields were starting to get to the level that you could start building on that to create this new kind of medium, and when you think about a social robot, it’s a new kind of medium for social communication and interaction. So it was the readiness and now was the time to jump in. It was always kind of back there in my mind. Timing is everything.”</p>
<p>Further exploring this theme, McNicholas asked Levin how to know when you have the right timing. The co-founder of Care.com answered, “You don’t want to be too early. For us, the technology existed to find people online and make matches, but it was a highly fragmented market and therefore an opportunity.” Care.com is now the world’s leading online site for helping families find and manage family care —&nbsp;a notion many people questioned as viable when Levin and her partners started pitching the idea. “Who would ever go online to find care for their loved one?&nbsp;We decided to do something about that. Every member of the team believes he or she is going to change the world. It’s hard for others to compete with you, if you believe you’re going to change the world.“</p>
<p>Sharing the perspective from the venture capital side, Rae spoke about taking the leap over and over again. One of her early leaps included the decision to leave her job at Microsoft to start her own firm and pursue investing in early-stage technology and software companies where she works side-by-side with founders to increase their rate of success. “I always thought of myself as in service to the idea of the entrepreneurial team and that has led me all along the way.” She continued, “Being an early-stage investor, my role is often to say to the founders, ‘You’re onto something amazing. Do you see the progress you made? Have you met this awesome person?’ My role is to keep that inspiration alive. I’m there to suggest, to present opportunities and collisions.”</p>
<p>On the topic of failure, Levin offered, “It’s not ‘if’ you fail; of course you are going to fail. It always feels like failure until it’s a success. The important thing is to keep going.” To which Breazeal added, “I think resiliency to failure is important. I don’t view failure as failures. I really do view them as something that helps make me smarter. You also have to learn to distinguish thoughtful critique, which is so valuable, from just ‘squashing.’ You have to trust your gut, it’s OK not to know how, you’ll figure it out.”</p>
<p>Concluding the discussion, McNicholas asked the panelists about the greatest lesson learned to which Barzilay said, “The process I am privileged to observe is taking things that are impossible to do and translating them into the real product that impacts people’s lives. It’s important to find problems which impact the bigger world and at MIT we’re really privileged to have this capacity.”</p>
<p>McNicholas offered the final parting words and advised the audience of aspiring entrepreneurs to&nbsp;“never let what you don’t know or have never done before get in the way of achieving your dreams.”</p>
<p>Innovation Night was the capstone event of StartMIT, an Independent Activities Period workshop aimed at exposing students to the basics of entrepreneurship. Over the course of the two-week program, undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs heard various viewpoints of the entrepreneurship journey from pioneers to recent alums.</p>
<p>Prior to the panel discussion, guests had the opportunity to meet alumni entrepreneurs and innovators during a Startup Showcase and demo session to learn about early-stage ventures from MIT. In addition, EECS department head Anantha Chandrakasan, the Vannevar Bush Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, welcomed the audience and introduced The Engine – MIT’s new accelerator focusing on providing support for the biggest and most transformative technology-based ideas which require a longer time to commercialize.</p>
<p>Following Chandrakasan on stage, Joi Ito, director of the MIT Media Lab, offered the evening’s opening remarks on the innovative “antidisciplinary” research happening at the lab. A longtime entrepreneur and venture capitalist, Ito spoke of the lab’s approach to learning — Projects, Peers, Passion, Play — commenting that “this is a lot of the spirit of MIT and it’s the spirit of entrepreneurship. The best startups have all four of these and a lot of what we’re doing at the Media Lab is instilling the values that we need in entrepreneurship so that we will hopefully spin-out many entrepreneurs.”</p>
<p>Developed by the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, StartMIT is supported by the MIT Innovation Initiative and chaired by Chandrakasan.&nbsp;</p>
At StartMIT Innovation Night, innovators discuss their founders’ journeys and the impact they’ve made along the way.Photo: Rose LincolnSpecial events and guest speakers, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (eecs), Innovation Initiative, School of Engineering, School of Architecture and Planning, Independent Activities Period, Classes and programs, Entrepreneurship, Alumnai/ae, Diversity and inclusion, Women in STEM, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E), Startups, Media Lab, Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, Sloan School of Management, DMSE, Biological engineeringJoy Buolamwini wins national contest for her work fighting bias in machine learninghttps://news.mit.edu/2017/joy-buolamwini-wins-hidden-figures-contest-for-fighting-machine-learning-bias-0117
Media Lab graduate student selected from over 7,300 entrants, awarded $50,000 scholarship in contest inspired by the film &quot;Hidden Figures.&quot;Tue, 17 Jan 2017 18:10:00 -0500MIT Media Labhttps://news.mit.edu/2017/joy-buolamwini-wins-hidden-figures-contest-for-fighting-machine-learning-bias-0117<p>When <a href="https://www.media.mit.edu/people/joyab/overview/" target="_blank">Joy Buolamwini</a>, an MIT master's candidate in media arts and sciences, sits in front a mirror, she sees a black woman in her 20s. But when her photo is run through recognition software, it does not recognize her face. A seemingly neutral machine programmed with algorithms-codified processes simply fails to detect her features. Buolamwini is, she says, "on the wrong side of computational decisions" that can lead to exclusionary and discriminatory practices and behaviors in society.</p>
<p>That phenomenon, which Buolamwini calls the “coded gaze," is what motivated her late last year to launch the <a href="http://www.ajlunited.org/" target="_blank">Algorithmic Justice League</a> (AJL) to highlight such bias through provocative media and interactive exhibitions; to provide space for people to voice concerns and experiences with coded discrimination; and to develop practices for accountability during the design, development, and deployment phases of coded systems.</p>
<p>That work is what contributed to the Media Lab student earning the grand prize in the professional category of <a href="http://searchforhiddenfigures.com/" target="_blank">The Search for Hidden Figures</a>. The nationwide contest, created by PepsiCo and 21st Century Fox in partnership with the New York Academy of Sciences, is named for a <a href="http://www.foxmovies.com/movies/hidden-figures" target="_blank">recently released film</a> that tells the real-life story of three African-American women at NASA whose math brilliance helped launch the United States into the space race in the early 1960s.</p>
<div class="cms-placeholder-content-video"></div>
<p>"I'm honored to receive this recognition, and I'll use the prize to continue my mission to show compassion through computation," says Buolamwini, who was born in Canada, then lived in Ghana and, at the age of four, moved to Oxford, Mississippi. She’s a two-time recipient of an Astronaut Scholarship in a program established by NASA’s Mercury 7 crew members, including late astronaut John Glenn, who are depicted in the film "Hidden Figures."</p>
<p>The film had a big impact on Buolamwini when she saw a <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2016/hidden-figures-screening-addresses-history-of-black-women-at-nasa-1222" target="_self">special MIT sneak preview</a> in early December: "I witnessed the power of storytelling to change cultural perceptions by highlighting hidden truths. After the screening where I met Margot Lee Shetterly, who wrote the book on which the film is based, I left inspired to tell my story, and applied for the contest. Being selected as a grand prize winner provides affirmation that pursuing STEM is worth celebrating.&nbsp;And it's an important reminder to share the stories of discriminatory experiences that necessitate the Algorithmic Justice League as well as the uplifting stories of people who come together to create a world where technology can work for all of us and drive social change."</p>
<p>The Search for Hidden Figures contest attracted 7,300 submissions from students across the United States. As one of two grand prize winners, Buolamwini receives a $50,000 scholarship, a trip to the&nbsp;Kennedy Space Center&nbsp;in Florida,&nbsp;plus access to New York Academy of Sciences training materials and programs in STEM. She plans to use the prize resources to develop what she calls "bias busting" tools to help defeat bias in machine learning.</p>
<p>That is the focus of her current research at the MIT Media Lab, where Buolamwini is in the <a href="https://www.media.mit.edu/groups/civic-media/overview/">Civic Media group</a> pursuing a master's degree with an eye toward a PhD. "The Media Lab serves as a unifying thread in my journey in STEM. Until I saw the lab on TV, I didn't realize there was a place dedicated to exploring the future of humanity and technology by allowing us to indulge our imaginations by continuously asking, 'What if?'"</p>
<p>Before coming to the Media Lab, Buolamwini earned a&nbsp;BS in computer science as a Stamps President's Scholar at Georgia Tech and a master's in learning and technology as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University. As part of her <a href="http://rhodesproject.com/joy-buolamwini-profile/" target="_blank">Rhodes Scholar Service Year</a>, Buolamwini launched <a href="http://www.code4rights.org/" target="_blank">Code4Rights</a> to guide young people in partnering with local organizations to develop meaningful technology for their communities. In that year, she also built upon a <a href="http://zamrize.org/" target="_blank">computer science learning initiative</a> she’d created during her Fulbright fellowship in Lusaka, Zambia, to empower young people to become creators of technology. And, as an entrepreneur, she co-founded a startup <a href="http://www.myavana.com" target="_blank">hair care technology company</a> and now advises an MIT-connected <a href="http://www.bloomertech.com/when-where/#team" target="_blank">"smart" clothing startup</a> aimed at transforming women’s health. She's also an experienced public speaker, most recently at TEDx Beacon Street, the White House, the Vatican, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.</p>
<p>From an early age, Buolamwini felt encouraged to aim high in STEM: "I went after my dreams, and now I continue to push myself&nbsp;beyond present barriers to create a more inclusive future. Inclusive participation matters. And, by being visible in STEM, I hope to inspire the next generation of stargazers."</p>
MIT grad student Joy Buolamwini (left) meets author Margot Lee Shetterly at an MIT screening of "Hidden Figures."Photo courtesy of Joy Buolamwini. Awards, honors and fellowships, Students, Graudate, Graduate, postdoctoral, Media Lab, Diversity and inclusion, Machine learning, Algorithms, History of science, Women in STEM, SHASS, School of Architecture and Planning, NASA, Space exploration, Object recognition, History, Computer science and technology&quot;Hidden Figures&quot; screening, discussion addresses the history of black women at NASAhttps://news.mit.edu/2016/hidden-figures-screening-addresses-history-of-black-women-at-nasa-1222
Author and executive producer Margot Lee Shetterly explores inspiration for the film; MIT guest speakers provide additional historical context. Thu, 22 Dec 2016 13:50:01 -0500William Litant | Department of Aeronautics and Astronauticshttps://news.mit.edu/2016/hidden-figures-screening-addresses-history-of-black-women-at-nasa-1222<p>In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the United States&nbsp;was engaged in a frantic competition with the Soviet Union to launch the first Earth-orbiting satellite, place a human in space, and, ultimately, set foot on the moon. Laboring behind the scenes in this monumental technological effort were what NASA termed “colored computers,” African-American female mathematicians responsible for&nbsp;critical calculations and other technical works.</p>
<p>On Dec. 25, 20th Century Fox will release the film “<a href="http://www.foxmovies.com/movies/hidden-figures" target="_blank">Hidden Figures</a>,” based on the book of the same title by <a href="http://margotleeshetterly.com" target="_blank">Margot Lee Shetterly</a>. The film tells the true-life story of three of these unsung heroes whose work played a key role in NASA's space race victories. But on Dec. 8, the MIT community enjoyed a sneak preview&nbsp;screening of the film, thanks to Fox and&nbsp;the MIT Department of&nbsp;Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro), with the&nbsp;MIT Women’s and Gender Studies Program&nbsp;and the Consortium for Gender, Culture, Women, and Sexuality as co-sponsors.</p>
<p>In his review of the film, <em>Variety</em>&nbsp;critic Peter Debruge noted “just how thoroughly the deck was stacked against these women.” He wrote, “‘Hidden Figures’ is empowerment cinema at its most populist, and one only wishes that the film had existed at the time it depicts.”</p>
<p>Following the MIT screening at the Kendall Square Cinema, a panel comprised of Shetterly, MIT Museum Director of Collections Deborah Douglas, and Insitute Professor Sheila E. Widnall offered comments on the film and solicited input from the audience of MIT students, staff, and faculty. Recently retired NASA astronaut and AeroAstro alumna Cady Coleman '83 also addressed the audience.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Shetterly, who co-produced the film, provided insights into how she was inspired to write <a href="http://margotleeshetterly.com/margot-lee-shetterly-narrative-non-fiction-writing-research" target="_blank">her book</a>&nbsp;after growing up with a father who worked as a research scientist&nbsp;at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. She also noted that, while the film focuses on three individuals, she learned about scores of women at NASA while doing research for her book, which was published earlier this fall.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Widnall, who came to MIT as an undergraduate in 1956 and would later become the Institute’s first female engineering professor, was “shocked”&nbsp;by the fact that one of the film's protagoinsts, Mary Jackson, was told outright that she couldn't aspire to be an&nbsp;engineer&nbsp;simply because she was a woman. “At MIT, I was never told I couldn’t be an engineer. I never felt I didn’t belong,” Widnall said.&nbsp;She added that the hurdles faced by the women in the story “is a lesson we must never forget.”</p>
<p>Douglas, who authored the book “American Women and Flight Since 1940” (University Press of Kentucky, 2004),&nbsp;moderated the panel. She noted that Shetterly’s work “captures a really basic aspect of aeronautical engineering in the mid-20th century: that engineering analysis relied on a lot of number crunching — not just a few quick computations with a slide rule but reams and reams of equations solved one after another, and while computers would eventually do this, the reality is that there were large cadres of human computers, mostly women, who performed these calculations.”</p>
<p>AeroAstro fourth-year student Rachel Harris said she was struck by the hurdles the characters in the movie faced and how they surmounted them. “I hope that this movie can generate a similar response in the broader nation such that we can continue to identify and fix the inequalities we still face,” Harris said.</p>
<p>Ashley Simon, a second-year biology major, found the film “powerful.” “I feel like it took we college students out of our comfort zone, which is the time we live in. We’ve all heard stories about the time, but to see what was happening is something totally different. The film took me on an emotional rollercoaster,” Simon said. Simon was particularly pleased that author Shetterly attended the event. “She provided us with more insight into the stories and told us more about the real women she interviewed. Margot Lee Shetterly was the piece to the puzzle that I didn’t even know was missing.”</p>
<p>Douglas summed up her reaction to the event: “The most powerful thing for me was to see how deeply affecting the film was for many in the audience.&nbsp;A starving person sometimes doesn’t know how hungry he or she is until there is an abundance of food.&nbsp;From the audience comments, I think there is a very deep hunger among many at MIT for the kind of affirmation that this film provides.”</p>
<p>Copies of the&nbsp;“Hidden Figures” book — including a special young readers' edition — were available at a discounted price prior to the screening, courtesy of the MIT Press.&nbsp;For those interested in diving further into the hidden histories of black women at NASA,&nbsp;the book is the next selection&nbsp;in MIT's all-community book club, MIT Reads. For information on discussion dates, visit the <a href="http://libraries.mit.edu/mit-reads/" target="_blank">MIT Reads&nbsp;website</a>.</p>
"Hidden Figures" author and producer Margot Lee Shetterly fields a question at the MIT pre-release screening of the film based on her book. MIT Museum Director of Collections Deborah Douglas (left) and Institute Professor Sheila Widnall were also on the post-screening discussion panel.Photo: William Litant/Department of Aeronautics and AstronauticsSpecial events and guest speakers, Film and Television, Books and authors, History, NASA, Diversity and inclusion, Women in STEM, SHASS, Women, History of science, Space, astronomy and planetary science, Libraries, MIT PressGrowing a network of role modelshttps://news.mit.edu/2016/student-profile-marlyse-reeves-1220
Senior Marlyse Reeves is building a supportive community of women in aerospace engineering.Tue, 20 Dec 2016 00:00:00 -0500Kate Telma | MIT News correspondenthttps://news.mit.edu/2016/student-profile-marlyse-reeves-1220<p>NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory loomed large for Marlyse Reeves from an early age. Growing up in Pasadena, California, in JPL’s backyard, Reeves developed a love of all things outer space, and the lab was a regular destination for school field trips.</p>
<p>Even as a child, Reeves, now an MIT senior, knew she wanted to work in the space industry: “I realized that the engineers at JPL really enable astrophysicists to make their discoveries, so that was what I wanted to be a part of, expanding that knowledge.”</p>
<p>Her love of space was nurtured at home, too. “My dad had a telescope when we were growing up. I loved science fiction books and movies. I was a big space nerd,” she says. &nbsp;</p>
<p>At MIT, Reeves quickly found her niche in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, where a flexible track within the major allowed her to concentrate on studying autonomous systems. “I ended up choosing AeroAstro because the people in the major I find are very passionate about not only aerospace but space exploration, and I really liked that vibe,” she says.</p>
<p>For Reeves, the importance of role models — particularly for women in industry — has been long been clear. She says her first role model was her mom, who graduated from MIT with a master’s in urban planning and development and was the executive director of the Los Angeles International Airport while pregnant with her little brother. Since coming to MIT, Reeves has sought positive role models for herself, and as president of the student group MIT Women in Aerospace Engineering (WAE) she has organized panels of successful women in the aerospace industry and helped build a supportive community of women who recognize each other’s accomplishments.</p>
<p><strong>Preparing for careers in industry</strong></p>
<p>Reeves is using her capstone project to build a tool that will be directly useful to the aerospace industry. Working with fellow student Kelly Mathesius under the guidance of Warren Hoburg, the Boeing Career Development Professor in Aeronautics and Astronautics, Reeves has been developing a system for automating inspection of composite layups.</p>
<p>Composites make up the structural parts of air- and spacecraft. During the manufacturing process, sheets of material such as carbon fiber are cut out and stacked together before being heated and cured together. For many of the smaller, more intricate parts, this layering is still done by hand and requires manual inspection. “This process gets kind of slow, and requires back and forth between a lot of people,” Reeves says.</p>
<p>Reeves and Mathesius are training a computer vision system to find the edges of each piece so that it can be perfectly guided into place. “That would make the process a lot quicker, more efficient, and [allow us to] keep track of a lot more data about the process,” Reeves says. The pair hopes to take the project to conferences and maybe one day see it implemented in industry. Reeves’ interest in autonomous systems and computer vision has led her to apply to graduate programs in computer science for next year.</p>
<p>As a junior, Reeves was selected to participate in the Gordon-MIT Engineering Leadership Program. The first year of the program is structured as a series of problem-solving labs that tackle abstract concepts such as ethics and use policies, important topics that are often not part of a technical curriculum. The program focuses on leadership for engineers — people who Reeves says may “have really high technical IQs but who may be speaking a different emotional language than you.”</p>
<p>“In industry you have to apply all these concepts, and it’s not just making a [computer-aided design] drawing. You have to communicate with other engineers, you have to communicate with management, you have to explain your ideas and fit into the organizational structure — not just fit within the structure, but thrive within the structure,” Reeves says.</p>
<p>In the second year of the program, students become coaches for the incoming students. “A team coach observes, and watches, and mentors [the younger group], and gives them feedback on how they did in the lab. So the program is really based off of peer feedback, and it’s really the second-year students who are guiding the first-year students into how they can improve as leaders,” says Reeves. She says she has already used concepts that she learned from the program in her internships and other leadership positions at MIT — from club soccer captain to president of WAE.</p>
<p><strong>Women in aerospace</strong></p>
<p>Reeves has been with WAE since its inception in her sophomore year, and in her junior year she served as the outreach chair. Through mentoring, career events, and internship panels, the group fosters a community for women in all aspects of aeronautics. It also includes women from computer science, physics, and mechanical engineering backgrounds. “We try to connect with women in industry and alumni. We host talks for women around the Boston area who are working in the aerospace industry, and they talk about their research, talk about their work, talk about what it is like working as a female in the aerospace industry. It is a good place to get exposed to that and to find role models,” Reeves says.</p>
<p>November is dedicated to outreach. Last month, Reeves helped organize the first WAE Day, an event for 18 high school girls in the Boston area to come to MIT to learn about aerospace engineering. Students toured labs, attended a lecture given by MIT students on basic rocketry principles, and went to a short talk by an MIT professor. “We have lunch with them, tell them about all of the different aspects of aerospace to get them interested, and help them learn more about it,” says Reeves. WAE is hosting a similar day for middle school girls in the spring.</p>
<p>Reeves says events like these are especially important for exposing young women to the possibilities of the field.</p>
<p>“Being a person who has gone into aerospace industry and has seen the lack of women — there are often times where I am the only female in the room at an internship — I think it’s important for young women and girls to get role models, and just see that there are women doing it. I have encountered a lot of strong female role models for myself in industry. [It was inspiring to see] that they weren’t really held back by any gender inequalities, that they kept pushing forward, and became technical experts in their fields, became excellent managers, and rightfully earned the respect of the people around them just being themselves and being passionate and dedicated,” Reeves says.</p>
<p>“A lot of our events are open to men as well. We want to build a community of people who support women in aerospace,” she adds.</p>
“I ended up choosing AeroAstro because the people in the major I find are very passionate about not only aerospace but space exploration, and I really liked that vibe,” senior Marlyse Reeves says.
Photo: Casey AtkinsStudents, Profile, Undergraduate, Aeronautical and astronautical engineering, Women, Student life, Research, School of Engineering, Women in STEMYoung women in physics explore faculty careers in inaugural MIT workshophttps://news.mit.edu/2016/young-women-in-physics-explore-faculty-careers-rising-stars-workshop-1214
Rising Stars event features research presentations, panel discussions on academic life.Wed, 14 Dec 2016 11:20:01 -0500Elizabeth A. Thomson | Department of Physicshttps://news.mit.edu/2016/young-women-in-physics-explore-faculty-careers-rising-stars-workshop-1214<p>Twenty-four of the world's leading female physicists gathered at MIT recently for a two-day workshop aimed at increasing the number of women who pursue faculty positions in physics.</p>
<p>In the United States, only 16 percent of physics faculty are women, according to a fall 2015 analysis by the American Institute of Physics. At MIT, about 15 percent of the faculty in the Department of Physics are women.</p>
<p>“One of the main goals of the inaugural Rising Stars in Physics Workshop is to change those statistics,” says Professor Peter Fisher, head of the MIT Department of Physics. “The idea was to bring together the next generation of women physics leaders for two days of scientific discussions, panels, and informal discussions aimed at navigating the early stages of an academic career.” Participants were selected from 82 applicants. All were within a year of graduating with a PhD or obtained a PhD no earlier than 2011.</p>
<p>The idea is pure genius, says Erika Hamden, a postdoc and astrophysicist at Caltech. “MIT gets to meet incredible women who could be potential faculty hires in the future while the participants get an inside view of the hiring process and what it’s like to be a young faculty member, plus a view of life at MIT. I think other physics departments should do exactly the same thing!”</p>
<p>The Rising Stars in Physics Workshop was organized by Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, the Mitsui Career Development Associate Professor of Physics at MIT. He was inspired by Anantha Chandrakasan, the head of MIT’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), who organized the first EECS Rising Stars workshop in 2012. Since then, the workshops have expanded to other MIT engineering departments, and the EECS event has been hosted by other universities.</p>
<p>After talking with Chandrakasan, “I thought it was time to organize the first Rising Stars workshop for physics,” says Jarillo-Herrero, who noted that Fisher and other colleagues were very supportive. Six other MIT faculty joined him on the organizing committee. They are: Nikta Fakhri, assistant professor of physics; Nergis Mavalvala, the Curtis and Kathleen Marble Professor of Astrophysics; Sara Seager, the Class of 1941 Professor of Physics and Planetary Science; Iain Stewart, professor of physics; Lindley Winslow, the Jerrold R. Zacharias Career Development Assistant Professor of Physics, and Bolek Wyslouch, professor of physics.</p>
<p>Mavalvala and Seager were also guest speakers at lunches and dinners. Other prominent guest speakers included Jacqueline Hewitt, an MIT professor of physics and director of the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, and Maria Zuber, MIT’s vice president for research and the E.A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics.</p>
<p>Workshop events included short research presentations by each of the 24 participants. These ranged from “Unraveling the Mysteries of Superconductors,” by Ming Yi, a postdoc at the University of California at Berkeley, to “Ultrafast and Nonequilibrium Processes in Quantum Plasmonics,” by Prineha Narang, a Ziff Environmental Fellow at Harvard University.</p>
<p>“I rarely have the opportunity to hear about research being conducted beyond astrophysics, so I really enjoyed learning about all of the very different areas of physics in which these talented scientists are working. It was also a great chance for me to practice sharing my [own] work with a broader scientific audience,” says Elisabeth Newton, a postdoc at MIT.</p>
<p>The program also featured several panel discussions on topics including the first few years of a faculty career to managing the work-life balance and public speaking. Panelists from MIT included Fakhri, Fisher, Jarillo-Herrero, Mavalvala, and Seager plus Jeff Gore, the Latham Family Career Development Associate Professor of Physics; Kerstin Perez, assistant professor of physics; Vladan Vuletic, the Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics; Michael Sipser, dean of MIT's School of Science and the Donner Professor of Mathematics; Ibrahim Cisse, the Class of 1922 CD Assistant Professor of Physics; Tracy Slatyer, the Jerrold R. Zacharias CD Assistant Professor of Physics; and Edmund Bertschinger, professor of physics and the MIT Institute Community and Equity Officer.</p>
<p>External panelists were Mariangela Lisanti of Princeton Univeristy, Toyoko Orimoto of Northeastern University, and Monika Schleier-Smith of Stanford University.</p>
<p>Says Kanika Sachdev, a fellow at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory: “After returning from the workshop, I discussed with some of my tenured colleagues what I’d learned at the workshop and their reaction was unanimously something to the effect of, ‘that’s absolutely right! I wish someone had told me this when I was starting out on an academic career.’ I got this same reaction whether I talked about the discussions we had about time management or the faculty application process or the work-life balance.”</p>
<p>Sachdev called the discussions “immensely important”: “In my opinion [they] need to happen more openly and become the norm in academia, because they would help young academics make more informed and conscious choices.”&nbsp;</p>
<p>Hsin-Yu Chen, a graduate student at the University of Chicago, noted that “some of the topics discussed in the panels … applied to all physicists. I certainly would be happy to share all of these discussions with my male colleagues.”</p>
<p>Jarillo-Herrero hopes to convene future Rising Stars in Physics Workshops. “It was extraordinary to see so many talented young women in one room — I’m used to being in a room with mostly male colleagues. So it was very inspiring, and shows how much talent is out there that we can tap into for academic careers.”</p>
Participants in the first Rising Stars in Physics Workshop at MITPhoto: David SellaSpecial events and guest speakers, Physics, Women in STEM, Women, Diversity and inclusion, School of Science, DiversityStudy: Mobile-money services lift Kenyans out of povertyhttps://news.mit.edu/2016/mobile-money-kenyans-out-poverty-1208
Greater access to services raises daily spending, especially among female-headed households. Thu, 08 Dec 2016 14:00:00 -0500Rob Matheson | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2016/mobile-money-kenyans-out-poverty-1208<p>Since 2008, MIT economist Tavneet Suri has studied the financial and social impacts of Kenyan mobile-money services, which allow users to store and exchange monetary values via mobile phone. Her work has shown that these services have helped Kenyans save more money and weather financial storms, among other benefits.</p>
<p>Now, Suri is co-author of a new paper showing that mobile-money services have had notable long-term effects on poverty reduction in Kenya&nbsp;— especially among female-headed households — and have inspired a surprising occupation shift among women.</p>
<p>Published in today’s issue of <em>Science</em>, the study estimates that, since 2008, access to mobile-money services increased daily per capita consumption levels of 194,000 — or 2 percent — of Kenyan households, lifting them out of extreme poverty (living on less than $1.25 per day).</p>
<p>But there’s an interesting gender effect: Female-headed households saw far greater increases in consumption than male-headed households. Moreover, mobile-money services have helped an estimated 185,000 women move from farming to business occupations.</p>
<p>“Previously, we’ve shown mobile money helps you with financial resilience. But no one has understood, if you improve resilience, what happens over the longer term. This is the first study that looks at long-term poverty reduction and at gender,” says Suri, an associate professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management and a faculty member in MIT's Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, who co-authored the paper with longtime collaborator William Jack, an economist at Georgetown University.</p>
<p>By 2015, more than 270 mobile-money services were operating in 93 countries, with an estimated 411 million accounts. The Kenyan study is important, Suri says, because it shows that mobile-money services aren’t just conveniences but do, in fact, have a positive impact on people’s livelihoods. “[That] can be useful for regulators trying to figure out if they want to allow it in their country, or whether someone wants to start a service in their country as an entrepreneur,” Suri says.</p>
<p><strong>Measuring “agent density”</strong></p>
<p>The study looks at M-PESA, the country’s most popular service, which launched in 2007 and has more than 25 million Kenyan users. There are more than 120,000 M-PESA agents scattered around the country, who handle deposits and withdrawals.&nbsp;</p>
<p>In 2010, Suri and Jack co-authored a study that showed M-PESA helped users borrow, save, and pay for services more easily. A 2012 study by the pair showed M-PESA helped Kenyans manage financial uncertainties caused by crop failures, droughts, or health issues. The idea is the M-PESA users can use a wider network of support, and receive payments more quickly, during dire financial times.</p>
<p>This new paper is “the grand finale” of the researchers’ long-term examination of the impact of M-PESA in Kenya, Suri says. For this study, the researchers compiled surveys of 1,600 households across Kenya over the years, looking at, among other things, average daily per capita consumption — meaning total money spent by the individual and household — and occupational choices. &nbsp;</p>
<p>Instead of looking at the number of individuals using M-PESA, the researchers measured the rise in the number of service agents within 1 kilometer around each household — or “agent density” — during early rollout of the mobile-money services. They then compared the consumption and occupation, and other outcomes, of households that saw relatively large increases of agent density, with those that saw no increases or much smaller ones, over the years.</p>
<p>Not surprisingly, households where agent density increased by five agents — the average in the sample — also saw a 6 percent increase in per capita consumption, enough to push 64 (or roughly 4 percent) of the sampled households above poverty levels. The World Bank defines spending less than $1.25 per day as “extreme poverty,” and spending less than $2 per day as “general poverty.” Mean daily per capita consumption among the sample was $2.50.</p>
<p>The impact was even more pronounced among female-headed households. When agent density rose — from zero to six agents over six years — these households saw a daily per capita consumption increase of about 18.5 percent. This level of agent density growth also reduced extreme poverty among female-headed households by 9.2 percent, and reduced households in general poverty by 8.6 percent.</p>
<p>Another surprising finding, Suri says, was that increases in agent density caused about 3 percent of women in both female- and male-headed households to take up business or retail occupations over farming. These occupations generally entailed single-person businesses based around producing and selling goods, which is made easier by mobile money, Suri says. “You used to grow vegetables, but now you take your vegetables to the market and sell them, or you open a little food cart or kiosk,” she says.</p>
<p>Using extrapolation methods on their data, the researchers estimate that the spread of mobile-money services has helped raise 194,000 Kenyan households out of extreme poverty, and induced 185,000 women to work in business or retail occupations over farming.</p>
<p>“Suri and Jack's results are provocative and enticing,” says Dean Karlan, a professor of economics at Yale University. “Provocative in that they find long-term impacts on poverty for women from an important, growing, and profitable business innovation, mobile money. Enticing in that they show us a clear base on which further innovation can and should expand, to find even better ways to use mobile money to target specific problems and make important impacts on issues of poverty around the world.”</p>
<p><strong>Savings and independence</strong></p>
<p>Exactly why M-PESA causes increases in per capita consumption and shifts in occupation remains unclear, Suri says. But the researchers have a few ideas, one being that more secure storing of money leads to better financial management and savings, especially among women: The study found that female-headed households that saw greater agent density also saw around a 22 percent rise in savings.</p>
<p>The researchers also think mobile money could give women in male-headed households, who are also usually secondary income earners, more financial independence, which could help them start their own businesses. “As a woman, sometimes you’re not able to save on your own, because cash gets used by the whole house. [Mobile money] allows you to keep separate cash and … manage a source of income on your own,” Suri says.</p>
<p>Moving forward, Suri and Jack now aim to conduct similar research on the impact of mobile-money services on poverty in Uganda, Tanzania, and Pakistan “to find out if this is just an effect for Kenya or more systematic across other countries,” Suri says.</p>
<p>The research was funded, in part, by Financial Sector Deepening Kenya and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.</p>
A new study estimates that, since 2008, access to mobile-money services — which allow users to store and exchange monetary values via mobile phone — increased daily per capita consumption levels of 194,000, or roughly 2 percent, of Kenyan households, lifting them out of extreme poverty (living on less than $1.25 per day).
Courtesy of the researchersResearch, Sloan School of Management, Economics, Africa, Developing countries, Mobile devices, Finance, Poverty, Global, Business and management, Women, IDSSLi-Huei Tsai receives Society for Neuroscience Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Awardhttps://news.mit.edu/2016/li-huei-tsai-receives-mika-salpeter-lifetime-achievement-award-1202
Picower Institute director awarded for her research on brain development, neurological disorders, and Alzheimer’s disease.Fri, 02 Dec 2016 11:45:01 -0500Joshua Sariñana | Picower Institute for Learning and Memoryhttps://news.mit.edu/2016/li-huei-tsai-receives-mika-salpeter-lifetime-achievement-award-1202<p><a href="http://tsailaboratory.mit.edu/" target="_blank">Li-Huei Tsai</a>, the Picower Professor of Neuroscience at MIT, director of the <a href="https://picower.mit.edu/" target="_blank">Picower Institute for Learning and Memory</a>, lead investigator of the <a href="http://agingbrain.mit.edu/" target="_blank">Aging Brain Initiative at MIT</a>, associate director of the Glenn Labs for Aging Research at MIT, and a Broad Institute senior associate member was named the recipient of the Society for Neuroscience Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award. This Mika Salpeter Lifetime Award recognizes an individual neuroscientist with distinguished achievements in neuroscience that actively promotes the advancement of women in neuroscience.</p>
<p>Tsai’s laboratory studies the brain from the genes to higher order cognition such as learning and memory as well as brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. Tsai’s career began with her studies on a protein called cyclin-dependent kinase 5 or Cdk5, which has been found to affect neurodegenerative diseases. She has also studied the cellular machinery that controls the activation and inhibition of genes, also known as epigenetics. In addition, her work on integrating molecular, physiological, and circuit based experimental approaches has provided great insight into the processes of learning and memory. Currently, Tsai’s lab is working to create non-invasive treatments for mice with Alzheimer’s disease.</p>
<p>“Li-Huei Tsai is an extraordinary scientist who has made far reaching and innovative discoveries,” says Michael Sipser, professor of mathematics and dean of the MIT School of Science. “She was the first to demonstrate the importance of epigenetic gene regulation in Alzheimer’s disease. Her lab identified epigenetic modifying enzymes that regulate genes underlying memory formation and further demonstrated the importance of epigenetic modification in Alzheimer’s patients and in mice with Alzheimer’s disease. She has provided important evidence that Cdk5 is an important mediator of deficits found in Alzheimer’s disease mouse models. Aside from her major contributions to a better understanding of Alzheimer’s disease, her pioneering work provides several exciting new targets for therapeutic intervention of Alzheimer’s disease.”</p>
MIT neuroscientist Li-Huei Tsai (left) receives the Mika Salpeter Lifetime Achievement Award from Society for Neuroscience President Hollis Cline.Photo: Society for NeuroscienceFaculty, Awards, honors and fellowships, Brain and cognitive sciences, Picower Institute, Broad Institute, School of Science, Optogenetics, Neuroscience, Women in STEM, Alzheimer'sSteppe by steppehttps://news.mit.edu/2016/faculty-profile-manduhai-buyandelger-1201
Mongolian anthropologist Manduhai Buyandelger studies a society in transition.Wed, 30 Nov 2016 23:59:59 -0500Peter Dizikes | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2016/faculty-profile-manduhai-buyandelger-1201<p>Anthropologists often work best with one foot inside a society and one foot outside it: They are steeped in a culture, but detached enough to analyze it. For Manduhai Buyandelger, this vantage point is part of life itself. She is a Mongolian anthropologist at MIT, whose work illuminates her home society and very much derives from her own insider-outsider relationship to it.</p>
<p>Consider: In a nation whose self-image glorifies nomads on the rural steppes, Buyandelger is a city dweller raised in downtown Ulan Bator, the capital. Growing up in Mongolia during the Cold War, she attended Russian schools, giving her an uncommon perspective on both her own nation and the Soviet regime that was controlling it. Indeed, studying politics, propaganda, and the country’s shift to a post-Soviet society has been essential to her research. And for all of Buyandelger’s deep roots in Mongolia, she has lived in the U.S. for years, returning home periodically for intensive research.</p>
<p>“All these things gave me ways of thinking about diversity and cultural differences,” Buyandelger says. “There were hidden parts of life I found intriguing, such as religion, which people practiced every day in secret. I lived with those contradictions from very early on.”</p>
<p>Her work reflects this. Buyandelger’s first book, “Tragic Spirits,” about the surprising return of shamanism to post-Soviet Mongolia, concluded the return of older religious practices was a way for Mongolians to re-establish their national identity. Her current book project examines women in Mongolian politics, as they establish themselves in the rapidly changing, free-market culture that has altered their social roles.</p>
<p>Or, as Buyandelger puts it, she tries to make sense of the “change, discord, propaganda, and inconsistencies in everyday life,” having experienced plenty of these things herself. &nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>“Socialism collapsed, right in front of my eyes”</strong></p>
<p>Growing up in Ulan Bator, Buyandelger found herself attending rigorous Russian schools that were built mainly for the children of Soviet expats; the U.S.S.R. controlled Mongolia as a satellite country during the Cold War.</p>
<p>“I think that going to a Russian school gave me some dual background and some way of comparing things, and being able to associate myself with not only one culture, but multiple cultures,” Buyandelger recounts.</p>
<p>In the meantime, she also witnessed some of the splits within Mongolian culture. For instance, her mother’s parents recoiled from living in the family’s apartment in the middle of Ulan Bator. Instead, they remained in the outskirts of the city, a place where “they had to bring in their own water and firewood. … They didn’t care about about modern amenities. For them it was important to have access to the outdoors and have their own little plot of land.” As Buyandelger noticed, some Mongolians retained private traditions and older values even given an opportunity for change.</p>
<p>By the time she started college, Buyandelger wanted to become a fiction writer. But then events overtook things: The Soviet Union and its whole socialist system starting breaking up, and she wanted to analyze it.</p>
<p>“Right when I entered college, in 1989, socialism collapsed, right in front of my eyes,” Buyandelger says. “It was the time of the democratic movement, the demonstrations. My walk from my home to the university went through the main square, and that’s where everything was taking place. … I really wanted to write about those transformations that took place: What did they mean for a country that was so consistently and neatly packaged as socialist, as it burst into complete chaos and embraced change so eagerly, and tried to build everything anew?”</p>
<p>Buyandelger’s career path took shape when she received a Fulbright scholarship to study in the U.S. This allowed her to start graduate school at Harvard University, where scholars such as Nicola di Cosmo and Michael Herzfeld took note of her remarkable linguistic range — Buyandelger could then do research in traditional and contemporary Mongolian, Russian, English, and ancient Tibetan, and read French — and encouraged her to continue.</p>
<p>After receiving her PhD from Harvard in 2004, Buyandelger spent three years in the Harvard Society of Fellows and then joined the MIT faculty in 2008. She is the Class of 1956 Career Development Professor and was awarded tenure in 2016.</p>
<p><strong>“There’s no easy solution”</strong></p>
<p>Both of Buyandelger’s books lie at the junction of culture and the market. In “Tragic Spirits,” which she researched mostly in remote rural areas, the end of communism led to a new breed of shamans — storefront entrepreneurs offering their services as seers. This helped them make money and survive in the new economy, and in the process, helped people re-assert a form of Mongolian identity after the Soviets shuttered religious expression.</p>
<p>Her ongoing book project, titled “A Thousand Steps to Parliament: Elections, Women’s Participation, and Gendered Transformation in Postsocialist Mongolia,” similarly finds unanticipated developments after the end of socialism. The book is about female parliamentary candidates running for office in increasingly commercialized election campaigns. In this case, while Mongolians enjoy far more freedom than they once had, commercial culture has also changed Mongolia’s gender dynamics, Buyandelger thinks, in a way that affects politics. &nbsp;</p>
<p>“During socialism, the state purposefully, with the help of women’s organizations, propagated images of working women and women heroes and professionals,” Buyandleger observes. “So there were not sexualized images of women. They were presented as model citizens, in medicine or as teachers, or women workers laying bricks. That disappeared. With the commercialization [of the market economy], the images of women switched, from idealized workers to [those of] beauty pageants, trophy wives, entertainment. That’s the transformation of state-sanctioned gender ideas to market-dominated ones.”</p>
<p>Women face multiple new challenges as a result, from finding political funding in a campaign-intensive culture, to presenting themselves in ways that are professional yet nonthreatening, Buyandelger believes.</p>
<p>“The double bind is they have to meet the requirements of [a] sexism that allocates feminine and masculine features in a very distinct way,” Buyandelger says. “They have to be feminine enough to be accepted by gender norms … but if they are [too] feminine, that prescribes them into a lower stratum.” As she sees it, some women in politics have made strides by presenting themselves as being professionally successful in ways that register well with voters, but others have struggled. Many female candidates, in Buyandelger’s view, present themselves as being “intellectful” — a word taken from the Mongolian term “oyunlag,” which translates as “with intellect.”</p>
<p>So as with religion, in politics there are problematic social fractures and tensions that have developed, almost inevitably, as an old culture has collided with radical political and economic changes. But these struggles are exactly what makes Buyandelger want to study her home country in unique detail.</p>
<p>“That’s what the country is struggling with, and there’s no easy solution,” Buyandelger says — partly as an insider, partly as an outsider, and always as an observer.</p>
Mongolian anthropologist Manduhai Buyandelger’s career path took shape when she received a Fulbright scholarship to study in the U.S. This allowed her to start graduate school at Harvard, where scholars such as Nicola di Cosmo and Michael Herzfeld took note of her remarkable linguistic range — Buyandelger could then do research in traditional and contemporary Mongolian, Russian, English, and ancient Tibetan, and read French — and encouraged her to continue.
Photo: Casey AtkinsSHASS, Faculty, Profile, Social sciences, Anthropology, Political science, Diversity and inclusion, Women, AsiaMIT Reads hosts author Janet Mockhttps://news.mit.edu/2016/mit-reads-hosts-author-janet-mock-1129
Shared reading sparks timely conversation about gender, race, and community.Tue, 29 Nov 2016 13:30:01 -0500Hannah Piecuch | MIT Librarieshttps://news.mit.edu/2016/mit-reads-hosts-author-janet-mock-1129<p>MIT Reads, an Institute-wide reading and discussion program, welcomed author, editor, and media professional Janet Mock to a full Kirsch Auditorium Nov. 15 for a conversation about her memoir, "Redefining Realness."</p>
<p>Seated in easy chairs on the stage just one week after the presidential election, Mock and moderator / MIT junior Syn Odu started a timely discussion with Odu’s own questions and then took more from the audience.</p>
<p>As a mixed-race trans woman of color, Mock spoke openly about the fears that the 2016 election results have provoked, in her words, in “brown folk, undocumented folk, black folk, queer folk, trans folk, and disabled people [who] are now having to fight even more to say that we deserve to be here.”</p>
<p>But Mock’s message was not one of fear or defeat. In the election, Mock said she supported Hillary Clinton, but now, “We have a better option, and it’s us. We have to do the work now.” She urged those gathered to deepen their communities, get involved in grassroots organizations that support marginalized populations, and seek out safe places where they can process and heal.</p>
<p>The timing of this author event could not have been more perfect, said PhD student Danielle Olson. “I am a woman of color at MIT and a strong ally of the LBGTQ+ community,” she said. “Last Wednesday I came to campus feeling hyper visible as a black woman on campus — not because MIT isn’t diverse, but [because of] this past election cycle.” Olson, an undergraduate alumna of MIT who returned as a graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science, says MIT Reads is one of several new opportunities she’s found across campus to support students and give them safe spaces to connect with one another. The program’s inaugural reading selection was also a pleasant surprise. “I am so happy we chose this author,” she said.</p>
<p>“We had a wonderful cross section of the MIT community attend,” said Nina Davis-Millis, who coordinates MIT Reads as part of her role as the director of Community Support and Staff Development at MIT Libraries. “It was a wonderful example of [Director Chris Bourg’s] vision of the libraries being a place on campus where people can have difficult discussions.”</p>
<p>During the question-and-answer portion of the evening, the audience wanted to know how Mock worked through the difficulties of her young life growing up poor and transgender. As an adult, Mock said, she has relied on community and self-care: “Finding spaces in which I can show up and not have to perform or be some kind of leader or figurehead. Where I just show up and be empty and not have to give anyone anything. That helps me process. Writing has always helped me process. Reading has always helped me process.”</p>
<p>The conversational format and intimacy of the discussion struck Dan Calacci, a first-year master’s student in media arts and sciences. “It was unique because it was really just two people who cared quite a bit about intersectional issues having a conversation — and a very personal conversation at that,” he said. “As a white person somewhere between queer and cis, it was super nice to be able to drop in on a conversation like that and hear from people who have thought deeply about these issues.”</p>
<p>The timing was necessary given the events of the prior week, according to Julio Oyola, assistant director of LBGTQ Services at MIT’s Rainbow Lounge. Mock met with a small group of invited students before the public event. Oyola said it was an opportunity to “express their gratitude for her serving as a role model for them as trans folk and queer students of color. It was moving and remarkable especially in light of how some folks are feeling.”</p>
<p>The conversation with Mock was co-sponsored by the Division of Student Life, the Office of the Dean for Graduate Education, the Sloan School Student Life Office, and the Program in Media Arts and Sciences. The author event is one of several community events facilitated by MIT Reads this fall, including smaller group discussions scheduled to accommodate not only students and faculty but also staff and other MIT affiliates. &nbsp;</p>
<p>MIT Reads’ launch comes at a time when community dialogue is more important than ever. Its enthusiastic response across MIT has heartened Davis-Millis: “The thing that really made my heart sing was the idea of the MIT community getting excited about a book and coming together around the act of reading.”</p>
Author and guest speaker Janet Mock (right) and discussion moderator Syn OduSpecial events and guest speakers, Libraries, Books and authors, Diversity, Diversity and inclusion, Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning (LGBTQ)“Uniting through Voice and Song” event celebrates values that connect the MIT communityhttps://news.mit.edu/2016/uniting-through-voice-and-song-event-celebrates-mit-community-values-1122
Tue, 22 Nov 2016 14:00:01 -0500School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Scienceshttps://news.mit.edu/2016/uniting-through-voice-and-song-event-celebrates-mit-community-values-1122<p>On the evening of Nov. 17, MIT faculty, staff, and students came together to affirm — through words and music — the enduring values and purposes that unite the community. Some 150 people gathered in Lobby 10 for a program of music from many traditions, interwoven with reflections from faculty and students. Against the backdrop of a changing political landscape, themes of mutual respect, inclusivity, and dedication to making a better world echoed through the evening.</p>
<p>Melissa Nobles, the Kenan Sahin Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, whose office sponsored the event, opened the evening saying, “At this time of change, it is important that we lift up and celebrate our commitment at MIT to our ongoing values of discovery, freedom of expression and thought, and respect for all people.”</p>
<div class="cms-placeholder-content-video"></div>
<p>MIT Chancellor Cynthia Barnhart PhD ’88, the next of six speakers, said, “We are actively uniting around our determination to educate, advocate, and care for every member of our community so that together we can continue our urgent work of making a better world.”</p>
<p>“At MIT,” she added, “we respect and celebrate our diversity. We seek the facts, believe in science, and roll up our sleeves to solve hard problems. We are open minded, inclusive, and kind. We listen intently and we speak up for what is right. We embrace our responsibility to invent a brighter future for all of humanity. These are MIT’s values and MIT’s path. They always have been — and I can promise you that nothing will change our course.”</p>
<p>Many students in the audience welcomed these statements of solidarity around MIT’s guiding values. “I have people in my life who currently don’t feel safe and don’t feel wanted,” said Riley Clubb, a second-year graduate student at the MIT Sloan School of Management. “That makes me sad, and I’m hoping that people will stand up [to protect others.]”</p>
<p><strong>Listening</strong></p>
<p>The musical program began with a performance of the majestic “Andante Festivo,” a single-movement hymnic work by Jean Sibelius. The tone poem, composed to give his country moral support, was performed with flowing, melodic nuance by members of the MIT Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Adam Boyles.</p>
<p>Members of the MIT Chamber Chorus and Concert Choir, under the direction of William Cutter, performed “The Reason Why the World,” composed by Professor Peter Child for MIT’s 150th anniversary, with text from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Nature.” “I chose the passage,” Child said, “because it extols the virtue of combining a sense of spirituality with scientific exploration, and says that each is incomplete without the other, that humans cannot be ‘naturalists,’ until we satisfy ‘all the demands of the spirit.’”</p>
<p>The MIT Vocal Jazz Ensemble, coached by Liz Tobias, performed “Thou Shalt,” by composer Naomi Crellin, a mesmerizing a cappella work of sustained vocal harmonies that were, by turns, hushed and full, with clear sweet sounds over a deep resonant rumbling.</p>
<p>Between the musical performances, students reflected upon the strengths of the MIT community and on how valuable it is to listen to one another in a spirit of mutual respect.</p>
<p>“Students of every historically oppressed group are scared and face outspoken threats,” said Billy Torres, sophomore in&nbsp;electrical engineering and computer science and head of Spanish House. "And yet at MIT, I see people smart enough to acknowledge the issues, and strong enough to overcome the fears facing them.”</p>
<p>Jonathan Hurowitz, a junior in earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences and president of MITGOP, noted that “Some students are afraid to even voice their opinions without fear of discrimination.” To bridge ideological divides, Hurowitz urged everyone to “find one or two people with different political or social views than yourself and listen to them. Commit to an honest discussion and work to understand your peers.”</p>
<p>First-year graduate student Amro Alshareef also expressed confidence in the strength of the community's bond. "We here at MIT are a family of innovators, and that’s not going to change just because some of us voted one way or another," he said. "We will still remain humans; we will still remain collaborators; and we will still remain MIT."</p>
<p>Caroline H. Mak, a junior in electrical engineering and computer science and a member of MIT Democrats, offered a unique take on the Institute’s core values, speaking as if MIT itself were applying to attend the Institute. Responding to actual Admissions Office essay prompts such as "Which program or major appeals to you?" and "What personality attribute you are most proud of?,”&nbsp;Mak’s “MIT” replies were: “I am now 145 years old and I want to major in diversity. I want to continue making history in ways I can’t even imagine right now.”</p>
<p><strong>Harmonizing</strong></p>
<p>Introducing the Turkish-American, Grammy-nominated composer and performer Mehmet Ali Sanlikol and his duo partner Beth Bahia Cohen, Nobles observed that “MIT values immigrant voices, and, in fact, all the music we hear tonight comes out of a merging of one tradition or another into what we think of as American music. As we know, the Boston area and the MIT community are extremely rich in multicultural traditions, and we're fortunate to have a wonderful example of that with us here tonight, with our guests."</p>
<p>For the gathering, Mehmet, whose compositions merge Turkish themes, jazz, and classical music, transported the audience with a soaring performance from the meditative Turkish Sufi Mevlevi tradition. Afterwards, Mehmet noted that the reverberant Lobby 10 space helped produce the immersive listening experience this rich, moving musical tradition can generate. &nbsp;</p>
<p>Mark Harvey of&nbsp;MIT Music&nbsp;introduced the final musical performance, by the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, led by Fred Harris, with guest musician Evan Ziporyn, MIT professor of music. The ensemble delivered Harvey’s composition “No Walls,” an anthem to inclusiveness inspired by Duke Ellington’s credo of living and making music “beyond category.” In “No Walls,” Harvey fuses musical acumen from South Africa, New Orleans, the classic American songbook, and some points unknown, into an original voice. The composition, he said, “seeks to inspire all of us toward what Ellington fervently hoped for: A new sound of harmony, common respect, and consideration for the dignity and freedom of all people.”</p>
<p>Abdie Dirie ’16, a master's candidate in computer science and electrical engineering, said the “No Walls” performance was one highlight of the evening for him. “It was pointed, with a very good message,” he said. Dirie said he had received a lot of heartfelt calls recently from family and friends who are Muslim. While feeling “anxious for himself and people I know,” Dirie said he was reassured by the evening’s messages, and found “every bit of the event beneficial.”</p>
<p>Helen Elaine Lee, professor of writing and head of the MIT Women’s and Gender Studies Program, brought the evening to a close. “I want to say something to you today about love and struggle,” she said, “about resilience, and the power of art to heal.” With readings from three American writers — James Baldwin, Denise Levertov, and Toni Morrison — Lee encouraged the audience to “love and change the world.”</p>
<p>And what is love? Lee invoked Baldwin, “who reminds us that love is a matter of commitment, grueling self-interrogation, discomfort, hard and ongoing work. And that’s what we must do now,” she said, “Do your transformative work, make and seek out art, and fight for the values you believe in.”</p>
<p>“Uniting through Voice and Song” was sponsored by the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences Dean's Office and MIT Music and Theater Arts, with support from the Office of the Chancellor and MIT Events. The event was organized and shaped by Fred Harris Jr., Agustin Rayo, Evan Ziporyn, Clarise Snyder, and Joe Coen, in collaboration with Adam Boyles, Gayle Gallagher, Mark Harvey, Lianne Scott, Meredith Sibley, the MIT Campus Activities Complex, and MIT SHASS Communications.</p>
On Nov. 17, the MIT Festival Jazz Ensemble, led by Fred Harris, delivered Mark Harvey’s composition “No Walls,” an anthem to inclusiveness inspired by Duke Ellington’s credo of living and making music “beyond category.” Photo: Jon Sachs/MIT SHASS CommunicationsSpecial events and guest speakers, Community, Arts, Faculty, Students, Staff, Humanities, Political science, Music, Theater, Comparative Media Studies/Writing, SHASS, Diversity and inclusion, DiversityApollo code developer Margaret Hamilton receives Presidential Medal of Freedomhttps://news.mit.edu/2016/apollo-code-developer-margaret-hamilton-receives-presidential-medal-of-freedom-1117
Former School of Engineering and Lincoln Laboratory computing pioneer among 21 recipients of the nation’s highest civilian honor.Thu, 17 Nov 2016 18:30:01 -0500School of Engineering | Lincoln Laboratoryhttps://news.mit.edu/2016/apollo-code-developer-margaret-hamilton-receives-presidential-medal-of-freedom-1117<p>Margaret H. Hamilton, a pioneering computer scientist and former head of the Software Engineering Division of MIT's Instrumentation Laboratory who led the development of on-board flight software for NASA's Apollo moon missions, has been awarded the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/11/16/president-obama-names-recipients-presidential-medal-freedom" target="_blank">Presidential Medal of Freedom</a>.</p>
<p>Hamilton, who also spent time as a computer scientist at MIT Lincoln Laboratory before starting her own software company, was honored for her contributions “to concepts of asynchronous software, priority scheduling and priority displays, and human-in-the-loop decision capability, which set the foundation for modern, ultra-reliable software design and engineering.”</p>
<p>The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the nation’s highest civilian honor, presented by the sitting president to individuals who have made especially meritorious contributions to the national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.</p>
<p>"This is a tremendous and well-deserved honor for Margaret,” says Jaime Peraire, the H.N. Slater Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and head of the MIT Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, which housed the Instrumentation Lab — a.k.a. Draper Lab — until it spun off into a private organization in 1973. “She was a true software engineering pioneer, and it’s not hyperbole to say that she, and the Instrumentation Lab’s Software Engineering Division that she led, put us on the moon.”</p>
<p>In fact, the Instrumentation Lab’s development of the Apollo guidance and control systems was the first major Apollo program contract, awarded August 9, 1961, just 10 weeks after President John F. Kennedy announced the goal of landing a human on the moon before the end of the decade.</p>
<p>Hamilton earned her undergraduate degree in mathematics from Earlham College, did postgraduate work in meteorology at MIT, and then moved to Lincoln Laboratory as part of the <a href="https://www.ll.mit.edu/about/History/SAGE_TOCpage.html" target="_blank">Semi-Automatic Ground Environment Air Defense System</a> (SAGE) project. SAGE, the first air defense system for the country, cost more than the Manhattan Project and catapulted advances in early digital computing during the 1950s and 60s. After her work on SAGE and the Apollo software, Hamilton consulted on NASA's space shuttle and Skylab programs before moving to the private sector.</p>
<p>Hamilton has become an icon for women in science and technology, especially in the few years since a <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2016/scene-at-mit-margaret-hamilton-apollo-code-0817" target="_self">now-famous photo</a>, showing her next to a printout of her MIT team's Apollo code, began circulating online. Last year, the Apollo software she helped to develop was <a href="https://github.com/chrislgarry/Apollo-11" target="_blank">added in its entirety</a> to the code-sharing site GitHub. The first full line in the code reads: SUBMITTED: MARGARET H. HAMILTON DATE: 28 MAR 69 / &nbsp;M.H.HAMILTON, COLOSSUS PROGRAMMING LEADER / APOLLO GUIDANCE AND NAVIGATION.</p>
<p>On Wednesday, President Barack Obama announced 21 winners of the 2016 Medals of Freedom. Other recipients include the late Grace Hopper, a fellow pioneer in computing technology; and Frank Gehry, the architect who designed MIT’s Ray and Maria Stata Center for Computer, Information, and Intelligence Sciences. A <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/11/16/president-obama-names-recipients-presidential-medal-freedom" target="_blank">full list of 2016 Medal of Freedom winners</a> is available via the White House, and an award ceremony is scheduled for Nov. 22 in Washington.</p>
Margaret HamiltonPhoto: Wikimedia CommonsAwards, honors and fellowships, Staff, History of MIT, Aeronautical and astronautical engineering, Lincoln Laboratory, NASA, Women in STEM, Women, School of Engineering, Computer science and technology, President ObamaMy Sister&#039;s Keeper builds community for black women students at MIThttps://news.mit.edu/2016/my-sisters-keeper-builds-community-for-black-women-students-1110
New organization aims to increase connections, mentoring, and success.
Thu, 10 Nov 2016 00:00:00 -0500School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Scienceshttps://news.mit.edu/2016/my-sisters-keeper-builds-community-for-black-women-students-1110<p>More than 70 black women students, staff, and faculty members gathered at MIT this fall for the first mixer of the year hosted by My Sister's Keeper, a new organization designed to build community among one of MIT's most underrepresented minority groups.</p>
<p>"Being a black woman at MIT is a very particular experience. To compare the experience with others going through it is very powerful and uplifting," says Itoro Atakpa, a senior in mechanical engineering who attended.</p>
<p>My Sister's Keeper seeks to support black women students, with social, professional, and mentoring relationships. To meet this goal, the organization has created "sister circles," small groups of five or six students, staff, and faculty united by common interests. The circles are encouraged to meet regularly and share experiences together.</p>
<p>"We wanted something unique," says Helen Elaine Lee, director of the MIT Program in Women's and Gender Studies (WGS) and founder of the initiative. "We hope to provide emotional and psychological support, foster kinship and community, strengthen academic performance, and cultivate engagement in social, political, and cultural matters beyond the classroom."</p>
<p><strong>Recipe for success</strong><br />
<br />
At the September event, which was held outside on "the Dot" (the grassy area near Building 54), members of the inaugural 14 sister circles had a chance to meet for the first time.<br />
<br />
"It's nice to see there are women you can look up to and relate to in different ways than your typical advisor and academic people," says Jasmin Palmer, a sophomore in mechanical engineering who says she has not been exposed to many black women in science and engineering. "To have a support group makes it more feasible and possible to succeed here."<br />
<br />
Daria Johnson, senior administrative assistant in the Literature Section and a member of the group's governing committee, says she thinks My Sister's Keeper meets an unmet need. "Black women here are one of the most underrepresented groups on campus. They need more support," she says. "The beauty of this is, once these women know each other, they can tap into many different resources."<br />
<br />
<strong>Building community</strong><br />
&nbsp;<br />
Lee, a professor of fiction writing in Comparative Media Studies/Writing, founded My Sister's Keeper last fall, soon after becoming director of WGS. "My Sister's Keeper grew out of my effort to embody greater outreach and diversity," Lee says. "Black women at MIT all need ways to make community."<br />
<br />
To determine how best to serve this population, Lee began by teaming up with Office of Minority Education Director DiOnetta Jones Crayton, Office of Multicultural Programs Director La-Tarri Canty, Counseling Dean Ayida Mthembu, and former Assistant Dean for Graduate Education Eboney Hearn.<br />
<br />
Then, last November the group sponsored “A Gathering of MIT's Black Women Faculty, Staff, and Students,” an event that drew more than 160 people to the R&amp;D Commons on campus. Attendees were surveyed about what they most wanted from the organization, and the responses revealed that black women students want someone older to talk to — an "auntie" to turn to for mentoring and advice.<br />
<br />
My Sister's Keeper created sister circles to provide this connection. Each circle deliberately teams undergraduates with at least two older women.<br />
<br />
Fatima Smith, an administrative assistant in the Office of Minority Education, is one of many staff members participating in My Sister's Keeper. "When I went to college, it was difficult to be away from home. I'm looking to give back," she says. "As women, sometimes we need each other."<br />
<br />
Atakpa agrees. The undergraduate says she thinks My Sister's Keeper will help black women students combat feelings of isolation. "It's such an important thing to have support across MIT — as undergraduates to have that mentorship from graduate students, faculty, and staff," she says.<br />
&nbsp;<br />
<strong>Creating a lively support network</strong></p>
<p>Lee notes that each sister circle will receive funds to support their activities. In addition, My Sister's Keeper plans to host two to three events each year that bring the wider organization together. Upcoming events (for which students signed up during the mixer) include a health and wellness fair, a careers activity, and a film series. Last year, the group hosted a panel discussion in which five black women MIT alumnae discussed their careers.<br />
<br />
"My Sister's Keeper is a cool way to talk to people who could help us channel our career goals," says Kristina Hill, a junior in brain and cognitive sciences. "We can really benefit from having relationships with all these wonderful people. Plus, there's food!" (The fall mixer featured a catered luncheon.)<br />
<br />
Now supported in part by MIT's School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, My Sister's Keeper was launched with an Innovation Fund grant last fall from MindHandHeart, an initiative founded to address mental health on campus. "What the initiative is trying to do is to increase connectedness and reduce isolation," says Sarah Goodman, who works in communications for the initiative, which is co-sponsored by the Undergraduate Association and the Graduate Student Council. "This is an MIT issue, but it's also a national issue."<br />
<br />
My Sister's Keeper has also received support from the Institute Community Equity Office, the Office for Multicultural Programs, the Office of the Dean of Graduate Education, the Office of Minority Education, the Office of Undergraduate Advising and Academic Programming, and WGS.<br />
<br />
The program is governed by a committee that includes faculty, administrative staff, and undergraduate and graduate students. "It is important to us that students are involved in steering the organization and planning events," Lee says. In addition, WGS Program Manager Emily Neill and Program Assistant Sophia Hasenfus have been indispensible to getting the organization off the ground, Lee says. "They have really worked hard as allies to MIT's black women to make the events happen."<br />
&nbsp;</p>
<h5 style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>Story prepared by MIT SHASS Communications<br />
Editorial team: Emily Hiestand and Kathryn O'Neill&nbsp;</i></span></h5>
<h5></h5>
My Sister's Keeper seeks to support black women students at MIT, through social, professional, and mentoring relationships. From left to right: Nikahya Etienne, Naomi Dereje, Annie Abay, Bettina Arkhurst, and Kristina Hill.Photo: Allegra BovermanSHASS, Community, Comparative Media Studies/Writing, Faculty, Staff, Students, Student life, Women, Women in STEM, Women's and Gender Studies, MindHandHeart, Humanities, Diversity and inclusion, DiversityLife lessons from the climbing wallhttps://news.mit.edu/2016/student-profile-charlie-andrews-jubelt-1109
MIT senior Charlie Andrews-Jubelt encourages students to look out for each other and lend support.Wed, 09 Nov 2016 00:00:00 -0500Kate Telma | MIT News correspondenthttps://news.mit.edu/2016/student-profile-charlie-andrews-jubelt-1109<p>Charlie Andrews-Jubelt loves to climb. A rock climber since childhood, he finds that the sport can profoundly connect people, even those who may not seem to have much in common.</p>
<p>“On a fundamental level, we are trying for something very basic and human, which is to ascend a rock,” the MIT senior says.&nbsp;</p>
<p>At its heart, climbing is also about looking out for our fellow humans.</p>
<p>“You save each other’s lives every time you catch your partner on the other end of a rope, and you go through this highly personal experience with them. When you step up to a climb that you are not sure that you can do, you may fail in front of them or succeed with their encouragement,” he says.</p>
<p>For Andrews-Jubelt, this “we’re in this together” mindset extends well beyond the climbing wall. During his time at MIT, the mathematics with computer science major has taken on multiple leadership roles to help empower his peers and foster a supportive community on campus.</p>
<p><strong>Motivated by empathy</strong></p>
<p>When Andrews-Jubelt first came to MIT, he had an injury that made it impossible for him to climb. He remembers feeling frustrated and confined, like someone who used to walk and was being asked to crawl again.</p>
<p>In retrospect, he says, this experience pushed him to become involved in activities he never would have had time for had he been training and competing as a climber. He started volunteering with Violence Prevention and Response (VPR) in MIT’s Division of Student Life, and the group Students Advocating for Education and Respectful Relationships (SAFER). He also became the CEO of Lean on Me, a text-based, anonymous, suicide-prevention peer-support network.</p>
<p>SAFER was an entirely student-run group that ran workshops on preventing sexual assault, and it has now been incorporated into broader effort known as Pleasure (for Peers Leading Education About Sexuality and Speaking Up for Relationship Empowerment).</p>
<p>“I grew up in a household with just my mom and my sister, and I saw that they faced a great deal more sexual harassment and discrimination just as a matter of course, in their everyday lives, just by virtue of being female-bodied,” Andrews-Jubelt says. When he found that sexual assault is common on college campuses, he knew he wanted to do something about it: “I felt that I had the responsibility to, as someone who has a lot of gender privilege.”</p>
<p>“It meant a lot to me to be able to make a difference, even at a grassroots level,” Andrews-Jubelt says of SAFER, whose objectives were to “share ideas that help people feel empowered, and help people prevent gender-based violence from happening. Or react when they see it happening.”</p>
<p>Andrews-Jubelt is also part of the Pleasure student advisory board assembled by Vienna Rothberg, a peer education and prevention specialist at VPR, which helped develop new student programming. Pleasure focuses on issues “upstream” of SAFER, “bringing cultural change to promote an environment of respect in which violence is rare,” says Andrews-Jubelt.</p>
<p>Pleasure <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2016/mit-medical-conducts-first-ever-walk-sexually-transmitted-infection-clinic-0331">facilitates a clinic</a> for sexually transmitted infections so that students can get tested in the same way they might get a flu shot. Every dorm at MIT has a student who has been trained on topics from sexual health to identity politics, and who provides fun, related educational materials and answers questions from other students.</p>
<p><strong>A process of self-actualization</strong></p>
<p>Last April, Andrews-Jubelt joined Nikhil Buduma, Linda Jing, Amin Manna, and Andy Trattner at Lean on Me, a peer support network that was born at the 2015 HackMIT hackathon. Lean on Me was chosen to participate in the Global Founders’ Skills Accelerator (now known as the delta V startup accelerator) at MIT over the summer of 2016. Though he did not have much experience in business or entrepreneurship prior to the summer, Andrews-Jubelt has become the CEO.</p>
<p>Lean on Me provides immediate, anonymous peer support to people on college campuses. Users text a number, and their text is answered by a trained responder. Lean on Me is spreading to other campuses across the U.S., most recently the University of Chicago. “I like to think that we are reaching a tipping point, beyond which it would be feasible to sustain a full-time team with this,” Andrews-Jubelt says.</p>
<p>While he wasn’t a founder, Andrews-Jubelt tries to bring a personal touch as CEO. “My goal has been for working on Lean on Me to be sort of a process of self-actualization,” he says. “Instead of being assigned a task, I want [my teammates] to feel like they are given an opportunity to move closer to who they want to be. That is the leadership style that I strive for.”</p>
<p>Since his recovery, Andrews-Jubelt also co-founded the MIT Climbing Team with fellow students Amelia Becker and Aditya Bhattaru. He thinks their team is on track to becoming as competitive as Northeastern University, a school with a recently founded climbing team that has hundreds of people show up to tryouts each year.</p>
<p>He is also competing on “Team Ninja Warrior: College Madness” this November. After applying to be on the regular season last year, Andrews-Jubelt was invited to try out for the first season of College Madness. Very excited, he sent around an email to look for teammates and found several students who were willing. He and his team finished competing and filming in August, and the show will air at the end of November. Viewers will have to wait until the show airs at end of the month to learn the results.</p>
<p><strong>Computer science as a bridge </strong></p>
<p>As a junior, Andrews-Jubelt worked in the lab of Pawan Sinha, through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP), on a project to test whether autism is a disorder of prediction. This hypothesis suggests that the fundamental difficulty for people with autism is an inability to predict events, or a person’s behavior based on their past actions.</p>
<p>If proven, Andrews-Jubelt says this hypothesis would offer a useful, predictive, and empathy-building understanding of a wide array of symptoms that seem otherwise unrelated, such as impaired sensory habituation and difficulty interpreting social cues. He set up and analyzed experiments that used body trackers to characterize how prediction impairment affected ball-catching in neurotypical children and in children with autism spectrum disorder.</p>
<p>After graduation, Andrews-Jubelt wants to build technologies that will solve problems for underserved communities. He sees computer science as a bridge between the abstraction of math and something that can directly impact peoples’ lives. “I think there is a reason I came to school to be a technologist. But I’ve also discovered that solving a problem that I don’t emotionally connect with is less motivating to me,” says Andrews-Jubelt.</p>
<p>While he is encouraged that he has been able to help other college students grapple with mental and sexual health, he wants to work on larger, maybe global problems, outside of what has affected him and his immediate community.</p>
<p>“I have considered working in social entrepreneurship or academia — ultimately I think I will seek out a combination of both. I think they both have advantages to addressing these kinds of problems, and their own drawbacks. I think ultimately I’m going to draw fulfillment from working on a problem that really matters to people.”</p>
“I have considered working in social entrepreneurship or academia — ultimately I think I will seek out a combination of both. I think they both have advantages to addressing these kinds of problems, and their own drawbacks. I think ultimately I’m going to draw fulfillment from working on a problem that really matters to people,” senior Charlie Andrews-Jubelt says.Photo: Ian MacLellanUndergraduate, Students, Profile, School of Science, Community, Computer science and technology, Mathematics, Mobile devices, Mental health, Social networks, Sports and fitness, Startups, Women, Student life, Clubs and activitiesMIT Football tackles diversity and inclusion conversationshttps://news.mit.edu/2016/mit-football-tackles-diversity-and-inclusion-conversations-1104
Players’ protest begins wave of discussion.Fri, 04 Nov 2016 16:20:01 -0400Matthew D. Bauer | Division of Student Lifehttps://news.mit.edu/2016/mit-football-tackles-diversity-and-inclusion-conversations-1104<p>The stands were filled with cheering fans. Music pulsed through the warm early fall breeze. On this particular Saturday, Sept. 17, everyone was ready for some football.</p>
<p>Players from MIT and rival Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) warmed up on the field, getting psyched for their annual gridiron matchup. As the national anthem swelled and heads turned toward the flag in Steinbrenner Stadium, three MIT players knelt on the sidelines: freshman defensive lineman Ben Bennington, sophomore running back Adis Ojeda, and senior defensive back Tremaan Robbins. In the weeks leading up to the RPI game, the three teammates discussed joining professional athletes in protest against deadly shootings and brutality by police officers happening with alarming frequency against black people across the country. That day, Head Coach Chad Martinovich stood by Robbins’ side, his hand resting on Robbins’ bulky shoulder pads, in a show of respect and support.</p>
<p>“The first two games I didn’t feel comfortable approaching Coach about taking a knee,” Robbins said. “I worked up the courage to talk with him the week before RPI.” But taking the knee was just part of what was on Robbins’s mind. He and other black student-athletes at MIT and across the country worry about more than the next game. “We fear for our lives outside of campus,” Robbins said. “So I explained what I was going to do, and Coach said that there had to be more to this than taking a knee.”</p>
<p>The football team had not discussed diversity, and after thinking through Robbins’s intentions, Martinovich saw an opportunity. “Our primary focus is winning football games,” he said. “But being a good teammate is based on mutual respect and support for individuals. I told Tremaan that taking a knee can’t be your endgame. What more can we do to make the team part of the solution?”</p>
<p>Since then, Robbins has been working with other black student-athletes and fellow residents of Chocolate City, a community of students who “identify with urban culture and share common backgrounds, interests, ethnicities, and/or experiences,” to develop a plan for discussing race and diversity in the context of MIT athletics. Among his partners in this endeavor is senior Rasheed Auguste, a former co-chair of MIT’s Black Students Union and a contributor to the 11 recommendations made to MIT leaders on improving multiculturalism and diversity on campus.</p>
<p>“When Tremaan approached me with this idea, we started discussing a framework for discussions about race among football team members,” said Auguste. “So he contacted Tobie Weiner from Course 17 [political science] who leads a discussion class on race, sexual identity, and gender.”</p>
<p>Weiner’s “Conversations You Can’t Have on Campus” class encourages cultural exploration among students of different races, genders, ethnicities, or sexual orientations who might otherwise have little or no contact with each other in their daily lives. According to the class syllabus, “We hope to create a relaxed atmosphere in which people feel free to ask questions about controversial issues, flame about discrimination and stereotypes, and argue and intelligently discuss difficult issues.”</p>
<p>“Both Rasheed and Tremaan have been in the class several times,” Weiner said. “Students can take the class multiple times, and we discuss different topics every semester.” In addition to talking with Robbins and Auguste, Weiner said she and Martinovich have also started preliminary work on the idea. “Chad and I met to begin to figure out what our next steps are going to be for these discussions,” she said. “We’re in the very early stages but hope to have a first discussion early spring semester.”</p>
<p>“This is a great example of how a relatively small, individual action can cause major things to happen,” said Suzy Nelson, vice president and dean for student life. “Tremaan taking a knee before the RPI game has resulted in some important developments that advance the conversation about diversity and inclusion at MIT.” In addition to the burgeoning discussion program, Robbins and Auguste hope MIT also looks at how it recruits student-athletes. “We’d like to see more minority student-athletes on campus,” said Robbins.</p>
<p>Like Martinovich, Athletic Director Julie Soriero agrees that Robbins and Auguste’s work should have more impact on the athletic community, and is watching the program’s progress hopefully. “If this pilot goes as well as I hope it does, I can see other teams adopting the same approach.”</p>
<p>Since the RPI game, Robbins has taken a knee before each game, and more players on his team and other members of the MIT Athletics community have joined him. As for the football team, Robbins said his teammates have been supportive of his protest, and of his drive for football to gain ground on diversity and inclusion issues at MIT.</p>
The 2016 MIT Engineers football teamPhoto: DAPERStudent life, Community, Athletics, Department of Athletics, Physical Education and Recreation (DAPER), Sports and fitness, Diversity, Diversity and inclusionSusan Lindquist, pioneering biologist and former director of Whitehead Institute, dies at 67https://news.mit.edu/2016/susan-lindquist-whitehead-institute-obituary-1028
Biology professor and mentor to many investigated protein folding and its role in disease.Fri, 28 Oct 2016 13:30:00 -0400Whitehead Institutehttps://news.mit.edu/2016/susan-lindquist-whitehead-institute-obituary-1028<p>MIT Professor Susan Lee Lindquist, a member and former director of the Whitehead Institute, and one of the nation’s most lauded scientists, yesterday succumbed to cancer at age 67. Her nearly 40-year career was defined by intellectually courageous, boundary-defying research and a passion for nurturing new generations of scientific talent.</p>
<p>“Sue has meant so much to Whitehead as an institution of science, and as a community of scientists, and her passing leaves us diminished in so many ways,” reflects David C. Page, director of Whitehead Institute and a professor of biology at MIT. “She was a risk-taker and an innovator. She believed that if we were not reaching for things beyond our grasp, we were not doing our job as researchers; if we were not constantly striving for that which we could only imagine, we were not fulfilling our obligations to society as scientists.”</p>
<p>A cornerstone of the Whitehead Institute community, a professor of biology at MIT, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Lindquist was a widely respected researcher with a global reputation for biomedical innovation. She made numerous, invaluable contributions to the study of protein folding, demonstrating that alternative protein conformations can have profound and unexpected influences. Lindquist’s research transformed budding yeast into a model organism for studying human disease, evolution, and biomaterials.</p>
<p>She was best known for her work on prions — proteins that exhibit an unusual ability to exist in multiple stable structural states, with altered functions depending on the state. Using yeast, she and her colleagues demonstrated that prions have the capacity to drive change in an organism’s inherited characteristics without changing its DNA or RNA — relying instead on an ability to change how proteins fold. In a seminal breakthrough in evolutionary biology, her laboratory showed that prions can help activate many previously hidden (inactive) biophysical interactions, producing new traits that are passed on to subsequent generations. In other words, by uncovering (activating) previously hidden genetic variation that can help cells survive changes in their environment, prions provide a mechanism for the evolution of beneficial new traits.</p>
<p>In humans, devastating neurological illnesses such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Creutzfeldt-Jakob, and Huntington’s diseases involve proteins that change their conformation and thereby spur pathological processes. Among the many technical innovations created by her lab, Lindquist imported several of these disease-causing proteins into yeast, creating a platform with which to study disease-causing changes in protein folding in action and to test potential therapies for the ability to prevent the protein’s toxicity.</p>
<p>A committed teacher and dedicated mentor to generations of biomedical and basic research scientists, Lindquist served as a professor at the University of Chicago for 23 years and then at MIT, where she had taught concurrent with her Whitehead Institute appointment since 2001. During her 15-year career at Whitehead alone, she supervised 115 fellows, graduate students, and undergraduates.</p>
<p>“Inspired by Susan’s seminal work on the role of protein folding in evolutionary processes, I came to her laboratory at the Whitehead on a sabbatical from my role as a professor of pediatric oncology,” remembers Luke Whitesell, a senior research scientist in the Lindquist lab at Whitehead Institute. “Breaking traditional boundaries, we sought to learn whether some of the same basic mechanisms she had discovered in yeast might fuel the malignant progression of cancers and enable them to acquire drug resistance. The nurturing, extraordinarily cross-disciplinary research environment that she had created for her students and postdocs was captivating. Over a dozen years later, I am still here, privileged to have assisted her in training a new generation of physicians and scientists who share her conviction that deep biological insight is essential to improving the treatment of human diseases. We are all devastated by her loss, but determined to carry her vision forward.”&nbsp;</p>
<p>Brooke Bevis, manager of the Lindquist lab, observes that, “Sue was the most creative, out-of-the-box scientific thinker I’ve known. She had a unique biological intuition — an instinct for the way things worked and the right questions to ask. And she was indefatigable, seeming to draw strength and stamina from the science itself.”</p>
<p>From 2001 to 2004, Lindquist served as director of Whitehead Institute — becoming one of the first women in the nation to lead a major independent research organization. In 2004, she resumed her research focus as an Institute member, an associate member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and an associate member of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT.&nbsp;</p>
<p>“Sue was a terrific scientist, colleague, and friend to many of us,” says Alan Grossman, the Praecis Professor of Biology and head of MIT’s Department of Biology. “She will be deeply missed at MIT and in the scientific community. Our thoughts and wishes go out to her family and loved ones.”</p>
<p>“Sue's bold strategies and unique ideas to understand neurodegenerative disease were recognized by her peers and supported by generous partners, including the JPB Foundation and the Belfer Family Foundation,” observes Li-Huei Tsai, professor of neuroscience and director of the Picower Institute for&nbsp;Learning and Memory at MIT. “She was a titan in the field and a genuine luminary, appreciated for her candor, friendship, thoughtful behavior, and superb communication skills. Her work and influence will continue to accelerate the fight against diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, as well as inspire and educate upcoming generations of scientific leaders.”</p>
<p>“I met Sue when I arrived at the University of Chicago in 1980, and we’ve been close friends ever since. I was Sue’s maid of honor at her wedding; she introduced me to my husband,” recalls Elaine Fuchs, the Rebecca C. Lancefield Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator at The Rockefeller University. “In Chicago, we taught together and shared our HHMI labs. Throughout these past 35 years, we’ve fueled each other’s science through many discussions and dinners together. I’ve never met another scientist as creative and visionary as Sue, nor a person so caring and loving. She was the gentle giant of science, and her work will continue to shape research and medicine — and inspire her family, friends, colleagues, students, and postdocs — long into the future.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>An insightful leader with an incomparable perspective on the intersection of academic and commercial medical research, Lindquist served as an elected member of the Johnson &amp; Johnson Board of Directors since 2004, chairing its Science, Technology and Sustainability Committee and sitting on its Regulatory, Compliance and Government Affairs Committee. A biomedical entrepreneur in her own right, she co-founded FoldRx Pharmaceuticals and founded Yumanity Therapeutics and REVOLUTION Medicines.</p>
<p>“Sue’s global reputation in biomedical innovation and entrepreneurial spirit, her courageous leadership and her commitment to teaching are an inspiration for all of us and for generations to come,” says Alex Gorsky, chairman and chief executive officer of Johnson &amp; Johnson. “With her keen perspectives, Sue’s made invaluable contributions to Johnson &amp; Johnson and consistently challenged us to deliver more innovation and enhance our commitment to scientific excellence and to patients worldwide.”</p>
<p>Lindquist received many awards for her extraordinarily productive research, including the President’s National Medal of Science — the highest scientific honor bestowed by the United States — as well as the Dickson Prize in Medicine, the Otto-Warburg Prize, the Genetics Society of America Medal, the FASEB Excellence in Science Award, the Max Delbrück Medal, the Mendel Medal, the E.B. Wilson Medal, a Vallee Visiting Professorship, the Vanderbilt Prize for Women’s Excellence in Science and Mentorship, and the Albany Prize. She was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the British Royal Society.</p>
<p>“Sue was not only a superb basic scientist, but also a committed leader,” says Erin O’Shea, president of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. “She served as a role model for women in science, including me. Sue purposefully worked to mentor numerous students and postdocs, who have since gone on to successful careers. She will be deeply missed.”</p>
<p>Born on June 5, 1949, Lindquist earned an undergraduate degree in microbiology from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a PhD in biology from Harvard University. She is survived by her husband, Edward Buckbee; two daughters, Alana Buckbee and Nora Buckbee; and Nora’s husband, Christopher Mannion; as well as her brothers and sisters-in-law Alan Lindquist and Stephanie Russell, and John Lindquist and Janice Moore.</p>
<p>Gifts in honor and memory of Susan Lindquist may be made to the Whitehead Institute Fund to Encourage Women in Science (lindquistfund@wi.mit.edu).</p>
Photo: Ceal Capistrano/Whitehead InstituteFaculty, Obituaries, Whitehead Institute, Biology, School of Science, Women in STEMSeeing solutions through, across continentshttps://news.mit.edu/2016/student-profile-sade-nabahe-1026
When a plan to improve stoves in Peru met unexpected challenges, MIT senior Sade Nabahe rose to meet them.Wed, 26 Oct 2016 00:00:00 -0400Kate Telma | MIT News correspondenthttps://news.mit.edu/2016/student-profile-sade-nabahe-1026<p>Sade Nabahe’s time at MIT has been defined by engineering projects that help people around the globe with everyday problems. Even when seemingly straightforward ideas have proven tough to implement, she has stuck with them and remained committed to improving the quality of life for people living in poverty.</p>
<p>Originally drawn to MIT by an interest in prosthetics, as well as a general love for math and science, Nabahe is now a senior majoring in mechanical engineering. She has worked on projects for communities in Tanzania, India, Peru, and Lesotho, and has traveled to Peru to research, test, and implement several technologies that promote health and sustainability in local communities. She plans on finding a way to combine her engineering background and interest in global development to one day impact people’s lives through policy.</p>
<p>While Nabahe’s approach has shifted during the last four years, her overall aim has stayed the same: “My overarching goal in life has been to, no matter what, help people.”</p>
<p><strong>MIT ambassador</strong></p>
<p>Nabahe, who is originally from Tucson, Arizona, fell in love with the fast-paced engineering culture at MIT when she attended the six-week Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science (<a href="http://oeop.mit.edu/programs/mites" target="_blank">MITES</a>) program as a senior in high school. “I guess I was always good at math and science in high school, but engineering never crossed my mind until coming [to MIT] and becoming more immersed in that environment,” she says.</p>
<p>Now an MIT Admissions student ambassador, Nabahe encourages students from underrepresented groups from across the country to apply to MIT, and helps run events such as the Weekend Immersion in Science and Engineering Program, to introduce high school students in the area to MIT. Nabahe is also the president of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society, a group she has been involved with ever since she started at MIT.</p>
<p>“I was lucky enough to discover MIT and my passion for engineering through MITES. I want to show students how great it is here and that yes, you can truly find paradise,” she says.</p>
<p><strong>D-Lab</strong></p>
<p>Soon after arriving at MIT as an undergraduate, Nabahe found <a href="http://d-lab.mit.edu/">D-Lab</a>. In her first D-Lab class, EC.722 (Prosthetics for the Developing World), she worked on building a shock-absorbing pylon for unilateral amputees.</p>
<p>After her first class, Nabahe was hooked. The next year she took EC.701/11.025 (D-Lab: Development), which examines the development community's responses to global poverty and introduces students to the principles of participatory development. Students are divided into country teams to focus on challenges proposed by a community partner, and have the option of traveling to that location over the Institute’s Independent Activity Period to codesign and cocreate technology-based solutions.</p>
<p>Nabahe and her group used an initial visit to Rayampampa, Peru to work with the community there to identify local problems that could benefit from an engineered solution. Through conversations with community members, Nabahe and her group found a project that she would ultimately devote a great deal of time to. “We had seen lots of different pictures of kitchens and houses, and it was very common to see a lot of soot on the walls,” she says. The people they spoke to also complained about coughing, “so we figured that the stove was the issue to tackle,” she adds.</p>
<p>Nabahe’s group focused on designing a stove that would fit within the cultural context of Rayampampa. A common, high-efficiency, portable stove is the rocket stove, which produces a hotter flame than some other stoves, while creating more carbon dioxide and less toxic carbon monoxide. But rocket stoves usually only have one burner. Nabahe’s team designed a rocket stove with the traditional three burner layout.</p>
<p>“While there are a lot of great products out there, and they are engineered to be very efficient, they sometimes fail in implementation because people don’t want to be limited to one burner. [With our three-burner design,] we had an advantage. We were really trying to respond to the community while reducing health hazards,” Nabahe says.</p>
<p><strong>A continued commitment</strong></p>
<p>At the end of the semester, Nabahe and her classmate Johanna Greenspan-Johnson applied for a grant from the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP). With the help of their advisor, D-Lab instructor Pedro Reynolds-Cuellar, they continued building stoves throughout the following semester, testing how quickly and efficiently they could boil a large pot of water.</p>
<p>But back in Cambridge, Massachusetts, finding building materials that would be freely available in Rayampampa — clay from a mountainside for the structure, and ichu plant fiber for insulation — proved to be a major obstacle.</p>
<p>Nabahe and Greenspan-Johnston switched from trying to build a stove structure to measuring carbon monoxide levels from their stove, using a fume hood in D-Lab’s Burn Lab. They also finalized the design of the stove, so that once they returned to Peru they could get to work as soon as they had access to the right type of clay.&nbsp;</p>
<p>“And so we had this idea that theoretically would work, but we wanted to go back to Peru and actually use the local materials again and see if the community would accept the design. It looked a lot different than what we originally had,” Nabahe says. She and Greenspan-Johnston received fellowships through the Priscilla King Gray Public Service Center, allowing them to return to Rayampampa for three weeks the following August joined by another MIT student, Jorlyn Le Garrec, who was funded through MISTI.</p>
<p>Nabahe, Greenspan-Johnston, and Le Garrec built the stove right outside of the local school. “We wanted to teach the community how it was made, because they build these stoves every few years,” Nabahe says. “We left the stove that we made there, and left all the mold material so that they could replicate it.” Nabahe also taught safe cooking techniques that they had tested back at MIT — such as using covers to lower carbon monoxide emission.</p>
<p>Back at MIT, Nabahe used older iterations of the stove for coursework in 2.671 (Instrument and Measurement) to measure the amount of heat lost in a specific design and handed over the Peru stove project to a new D-Lab:Development team the following year.</p>
<p>Another class at the D-Lab led her to use spare motorcycle parts to build an ambulance stretcher attachment for motorcycles in Tanzania. The hope is that an easily maneuverable vehicle will be able to transport pregnant women and injured patients in rural areas to hospitals. Nabahe says that the biggest challenge has been designing a way to attach the stretcher to a variety of motorcycles, because each back wheel is different. She continued working on this project after the class finished, rode in the ambulance trailer in the MIT Moving Day Parade last May, and is applying for funding to test the motorcycle ambulance in Tanzania this January with three other MIT students.</p>
<p>This year, Nabahe is taking 2.729/EC.729 (D-Lab: Design for Scale) and is working on redesigning the manufacturing process for photovoltaic frames for a possible new solar plant in Lesotho. In 2.760 (Global Engineering), taught by Amos Winter, she is working with a team to design a quick, low-cost method for flash-chilling individual drinks that could be used in India or elsewhere. Nabahe also serves as a D-Lab tour guide.</p>
<p>“D-Lab always jokes around that they sometimes derail students’ plans or their future careers, because when you find D-Lab you get sucked in. Rather than derail my future plans, they helped me discover them: I just hadn’t found what I wanted to dedicate my life to, and now I have,” Nabahe says.</p>
“I was lucky enough to discover MIT and my passion for engineering through MITES. I want to show students how great it is here and that yes, you can truly find paradise,” says senior Sade Nabahe.Photo: Ian MacLellan D-Lab, Mechanical engineering, Students, School of Engineering, Developing countries, Development, Community, Technology and society, Volunteering, outreach, public service, Women in STEM, Profile, Undergraduate, Office of Engineering Outreach Program (OEOP)New lactation room available to the MIT communityhttps://news.mit.edu/2016/new-lactation-room-available-1025
Tue, 25 Oct 2016 17:45:01 -0400MIT Work-Life Centerhttps://news.mit.edu/2016/new-lactation-room-available-1025<p>MIT is dedicated to meeting the needs of its nursing mothers. To that end, the MIT Work-Life Center recently announced the opening of a new lactation room in MIT Human Resources in Room <a href="http://whereis.mit.edu/?go=NE49">NE49-5000</a>. This new room is an example of MIT’s continuing commitment to support new mothers as they return to work.</p>
<p>In the U.S., 75 percent of mothers breastfeed their babies, yet many wean their infants early due to lack of accommodation in the workplace. In recognition of the important health benefits that breastfeeding offers to both newborns and mothers, the federal government passed legislation in 2010&nbsp;requiring that employers provide both private space and adequate break time to breastfeeding employees who choose to pump.</p>
<p>The MIT Work-Life Center has spearheaded efforts to enhance the number of lactation rooms across campus, and this newest lactation room is open to the entire MIT community, as well as to visitors. It features comfortable chairs, a hospital-grade breast pump, books and other resources for working mothers, a refrigerator for temporary storage of breast milk, and a kitchen and bathroom close by. This is the second lactation room in Building NE49; the other room is on the third floor (NE49-3053) and sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Finance.</p>
<p>The MIT Work-Life Center has information and resources to support mothers who continue breastfeeding once they return to work — and to support supervisors in establishing arrangements that accommodate work routines and create a supportive environment as outlined in <a href="http://hrweb.mit.edu/worklife/child-care-parenting/breastfeeding-support/guidelines" target="_blank">MIT's Lactation Support Guidelines for Nursing Mothers and Their Supervisors</a>.</p>
<p>Please call 617-253-1592 or visit the <a href="http://hrweb.mit.edu/worklife/child-care-parenting/breastfeeding-support" target="_blank">MIT HR childcare website</a> to learn more about these resources, including a list of campus lactation rooms. MIT faculty, staff, postdocs — and families — can also access breastfeeding support through the MyLife Services benefit by calling 844-405-LIFE (5433) or emailing <a href="mailto:info@mitmylifeservices.com">info@mitmylifeservices.com</a>. MIT graduate students can find breastfeeding support through the MIT Graduate Assistance and Information Network: Call 844-MIT-GAIN (4246) or email <a href="mailto:info@mitgain.com">info@mitgain.com</a>.</p>
Campus services, Facilities, Community, Human Resources, WomenQuantifying urban revitalizationhttps://news.mit.edu/2016/quantifying-urban-revitalization-1024
Combining cellphone data with perceptions of public spaces could help guide urban planning.
Mon, 24 Oct 2016 00:00:01 -0400Larry Hardesty | MIT News Officehttps://news.mit.edu/2016/quantifying-urban-revitalization-1024<p>For years, researchers at the MIT Media Lab have been developing a <a href="http://pulse.media.mit.edu/">database of images</a> captured at regular distances around several major cities. The images are scored according to different visual characteristics — how safe the depicted areas look, how affluent, how lively, and the like.</p>
<p>In a <a href="http://arxiv.org/pdf/1608.00462v1.pdf">paper</a> they presented last week at the Association for Computing Machinery’s Multimedia Conference, the researchers, together with colleagues at the University of Trento and the Bruno Kessler Foundation, both in Trento, Italy, compared these safety scores, of neighborhoods in Rome and Milan, to the frequency with which people visited these places, according to cellphone data.</p>
<p>Adjusted for factors such as population density and distance from city centers, the correlation between perceived safety and visitation rates was strong, but it was particularly strong for women and people over 50. The correlation was negative for people under 30, which means that males in their 20s were actually more likely to visit neighborhoods generally perceived to be unsafe than to visit neighborhoods perceived to be safe.</p>
<p>In the same paper, the researchers also identified several visual features that are highly correlated with judgments that a particular area is safe or unsafe. Consequently, the work could help guide city planners in decisions about how to revitalize declining neighborhoods.</p>
<p>“There’s a big difference between a theory and a fact,” says Luis Valenzuela, an urban planner and professor of design at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Santiago, Chile, who was not involved in the research. “What this paper does is put the facts on the table, and that’s a big step. It also opens up the ways in which we can build toward establishing the facts in different contexts. It will bring up a lot of other research, in which, I don’t have any doubt, this will be put up as a seminal step.”</p>
<p>Valenzuela is particularly struck by the researchers’ demographically specific results. “That, I would say, is quite a big breakthrough in urban-planning research,” he says. “Urban planning — and there’s a lot of literature about it — has been largely designed from a male perspective. ... This research gives scientific evidence that women have a specific perception of the appearance of safety in the city.”</p>
<p><strong>Corroborations</strong></p>
<p>“Are the places that look safer places that people flock into?” asks César Hidalgo, the Asahi Broadcast Corporation Career Development Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences and one of the senior authors on the new paper. “That should connect with actual crime because of two theories that we mention in the introduction of the paper, which are the defensible-space theory of Oscar Newman and Jane Jacobs’ eyes-on-the-street theory.” Hidalgo is also the director of the Macro Connections group at MIT.</p>
<p>Jacobs’ theory, Hidalgo says, is that neighborhoods in which residents can continuously keep track of street activity tend to be safer; a corollary is that buildings with street-facing windows tend to create a sense of safety, since they imply the possibility of surveillance. Newman’s theory is an elaboration on Jacobs’, suggesting that architectural features that demarcate public and private spaces, such as flights of stairs leading up to apartment entryways or archways separating plazas from the surrounding streets, foster the sense that crossing a threshold will bring on closer scrutiny.</p>
<p>The researchers caution that they are not trained as urban planners, but they do feel that their analysis identifies some visual features of urban environments that contribute to perceptions of safety or unsafety. For one thing, they think the data support Jacobs’ theory: Buildings with street-facing windows appear to increase people’s sense of safety much more than buildings with few or no street-facing windows. And in general, upkeep seems to matter more than distinctive architectural features. For instance, everything else being equal, green spaces increase people’s sense of safety, but poorly maintained green spaces lower it.</p>
<p>Joining Hidalgo on the paper are Nikhil Naik, a PhD student in media arts and sciences at MIT; Marco De Nadai, a PhD student at the University of Trento; Bruno Lepri, who heads the Mobile and Social Computing Lab at the Kessler Foundation; and five of their colleagues in Trento. Both De Nadai and Lepri are currently visiting scholars at MIT.</p>
<p>Hidalgo’s group launched its project to quantify the emotional effects of urban images in 2011, with a website that presents volunteers with pairs of images and asks them to select the one that ranks higher according to some criterion, such as safety or liveliness. On the basis of these comparisons, the researchers’ system assigns each image a score on each criterion.</p>
<p>So far, volunteers have performed more than 1.4 million comparisons, but that’s still not nearly enough to provide scores for all the images in the researchers’ database. For instance, the images in the data sets for Rome and Milan were captured every 100 meters or so. And the database includes images from 53 cities.</p>
<p><strong>Automations </strong></p>
<p>So three years ago, the researchers began using the scores generated by human comparisons to train a machine-learning system that would assign scores to the remaining images. “That’s ultimately how you’re able to take this type of research to scale,” Hidalgo says. “You can never scale by crowdsourcing, simply because you’d have to have all of the Internet clicking on images for you.”</p>
<p>The cellphone data, which was used to determine how frequently people visited various neighborhoods, was provided by Telecom Italia Mobile and identified only the cell towers to which users connected. The researchers mapped the towers’ broadcast ranges onto the geographic divisions used in census data, and compared the number of people who made calls from each region with that region’s aggregate safety scores. They adjusted for population density, employee density, distance from the city center, and a standard poverty index.</p>
<p>To determine which features of visual scenes correlated with perceptions of safety, the researchers designed an algorithm that selectively blocked out apparently continuous sections of images — sections that appear to have clear boundaries. The algorithm then recorded the changes to the scores assigned the images by the machine-learning system.</p>
Researchers used sample images, like the ones on the top row, to identify several visual features that are highly correlated with judgments that a particular area is safe or unsafe. The left side shows a low level of safety while the right shows a high level. Highlighted areas on the middle row show “unsafe” areas while the bottom row shows “safe” areas in the image.
Courtesy of the researchersResearch, School of Architecture and Planning, Artificial intelligence, Big data, Computer science and technology, Crowdsourcing, Machine learning, Media Lab, Women, Urban studies and planning, Algorithms, CitiesAnalyzing the 2016 election: Insights from 12 MIT scholarshttps://news.mit.edu/2016/election-insights-from-mit-scholars-1012
Experts from the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences weigh in on topics from polling to rhetoric to individual campaign issues.Wed, 12 Oct 2016 12:00:00 -0400School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Scienceshttps://news.mit.edu/2016/election-insights-from-mit-scholars-1012<p><em>The 2016 presidential election has brought to the fore a number of political and cultural issues that scholars in the MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS) think deeply about as part of their daily research. Here, 12 faculty members <a href="http://shass.mit.edu/news/news-2016-election-insights" target="_blank">offer their perspectives</a> on topics ranging from economic security to climate change to gender bias to the state of the U.S. electoral system itself. Follow links in each section for further discussion.</em></p>
<p><strong>On campaign discourse:</strong></p>
<p>"The United States has a history of unseemly bursts of crude and deceitful campaign rhetoric, beginning with outrageous slander slung between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in 1800. Nonetheless, the sense that this year’s election rhetoric is different than usual is well founded." <em>—Edward Schiappa, the John E. Burchard Professor of the Humanities&nbsp; </em><a href="http://shass.mit.edu/news/news-2016-election-insights-edward-schiappa-campaign-discourse" target="_blank">Read more &gt;&gt;</a></p>
<p><strong>On the integrity of U.S. elections:</strong></p>
<p>"The current election administration system continues to stand in need of improvement. However, intimations that it is fundamentally corrupt and rigged against one candidate or the other are not only false, but needlessly undermine the legitimacy of those who are elected to office." <em>—Charles Stewart III, the Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Political Science&nbsp; </em><a href="http://shass.mit.edu/news/news-2016-election-insights-charles-stewart-iii-election-integrity" target="_blank">Read more &gt;&gt;</a></p>
<p><strong>On political rhetoric and outsider candidates:</strong></p>
<p>"What is unusual is not the existence of outsider candidates but, rather, for such candidates to succeed, or at least to succeed at high levels. What successful outsider candidates do achieve is typically dependent on the use of populist rhetoric that draws heavily on language referencing insider/outsider status, notions of victimization, and a heavy-handed dosage of 'common sense' and anti-intellectualism.” <em>—Heather Hendershot, professor of comparative media&nbsp; </em><a href="http://shass.mit.edu/news/news-2016-election-insights-heather-hendershot-political-rhetoric-and-outsider-candidates" target="_blank">Read more &gt;&gt;</a></p>
<p><strong>On sexism and gender bias:</strong></p>
<p>"As long as 'being presidential' and 'looking presidential' are about being and looking masculine, we will be unable to address what is ripping us apart as a country. Arguably, the androcentrism of our political system eclipses Clinton’s hard-won accomplishments and her vision of America’s strengths, and places undue weight on Trump’s particular form of masculinity. This form of sexism is dangerous for the well-being of our republic." <em>—Sally Haslanger, the Ford Professor of Philosophy&nbsp; </em><a href="http://shass.mit.edu/news/news-2016-election-insights-sally-haslanger-gender-bias" target="_blank">Read more &gt;&gt;</a></p>
<p><strong>On racial bias:</strong></p>
<p>"There's evidence that government is less responsive to people of color ... that election officials are less likely to respond to informational questions about voting eligibility when they're sent from Hispanic-sounding names than when they're sent by non-Hispanic white names. These officials didn't respond rudely to Hispanic questioners; they simply didn't write back as often and didn't answer their questions as well." <em>—Ariel White, assistant professor of political science&nbsp; </em><a href="http://shass.mit.edu/news/news-2016-election-insights-ariel-white-racial-attitudes-and-bias" target="_blank">Read more &gt;&gt;</a></p>
<p><strong>On election polls:</strong></p>
<p>"It’s election season and the polls are coming fast and furious. Given this blizzard of sometimes contradictory information, how can we make sense of the presidential race?<strong> </strong>First, don’t be distracted by any single poll. The media tend to highlight polls that are surprising — those that paint a different picture of the state of the race than the pack of the others. Resist this tendency." —<em>Adam Berinsky, professor of political science</em>&nbsp; <a href="http://shass.mit.edu/news/news-2016-election-insights-adam-berinsky-electoral-polls" target="_blank">Read more &gt;&gt;</a></p>
<p><strong>On the economic impacts of climate change: </strong></p>
<p>"This increase in average temperature translates into many more extremely hot days. These matter, even in the U.S.: Researchers have found that the increased number of extremely hot days leads to lower agricultural yields, lower economic activity in industries exposed to outdoor temperatures, such as construction and mining, and even to increased mortality. Sorting out the optimal response to these effects is complex, but a prerequisite for doing so is acknowledging that climate change is real." <em>—Benjamin Olken, professor of economics&nbsp; </em><a href="http://shass.mit.edu/news/news-2016-election-insights-benjamin-olken-economic-impacts-climate-change" target="_blank">Read more &gt;&gt;</a></p>
<p><strong>On immigration and terrorism:</strong></p>
<p>"Several studies — including one just released by the National Academy of Sciences — demonstrate that immigrants of all kinds boost the U.S. economy overall and hurt few if any native-born Americans. So, what really mobilizes anti-immigrant attitudes?" <em>—John Tirman, executive director and principal research scientist at the Center for International Studies&nbsp; </em><a href="http://shass.mit.edu/news/news-2016-election-insights-john-tirman-immigration-and-terrorism" target="_blank">Read more &gt;&gt;</a></p>
<p><strong>On health care<em>:</em></strong></p>
<p>"The 2016 election offers voters a stark contrast on health care. Who should get health insurance coverage in the future, and how should it be funded? The stakes are large — both for the nation, as health care accounts for one-sixth of economic activity in the United States, and for individuals, as affordable access to health care is an important factor in financial security and quality of life." <em>—Andrea Campbell, the Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science&nbsp; </em><a href="http://shass.mit.edu/news/news-2016-election-insights-andrea-campbell-health-care" target="_blank">Read more &gt;&gt;</a></p>
<p><strong>On criminal justice reform:</strong></p>
<p>"[W]hile many minority voters are deeply concerned about criminal justice issues, they are also invested in the direction of education, housing, employment, foreign, and other policies. And therein lies an important point about criminal justice reform itself: Inequalities in the distribution of both crime and punishment are likely to persist so long as inequalities in these other spheres of life continue to be seen as acceptable or inevitable costs of the free-market system." <em>—Malick Ghachem, associate professor of history&nbsp; </em><a href="http://shass.mit.edu/news/news-2016-election-insights-malick-ghachem-criminal-justice" target="_blank">Read more &gt;&gt;</a></p>
<p><strong>On jobs and economic security:</strong></p>
<p>"Enacted in 1975 and enlarged by both Republican and Democratic administrations, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is among the nation’s most significant tools for reducing poverty and encouraging people to enter the workforce. One of the most promising policies for assisting non-college workers is expanding EITC to cover childless workers and non-custodial parents." <em>—David Autor, the Ford Professor of Economics</em>&nbsp; <a href="http://shass.mit.edu/news/news-2016-election-insights-david-autor-jobs-and-economic-security" target="_blank">Read more &gt;&gt;</a></p>
<p><strong>On the "Putinization" of politics:</strong></p>
<p>"The 'Putinization' of American elections is the creation of a reality-TV-style of campaigning based on machismo, a loss of authenticity, and a failure to acknowledge the importance of institutions, laws, and solid economic policies designed to increase the general welfare of the nation." <em>—Elizabeth Wood, professor of history&nbsp; </em><a href="http://shass.mit.edu/news/news-2016-election-insights-elizabeth-wood-putinization-politics" target="_blank">Read more &gt;&gt;</a></p>
Image: ShutterstockVoting and elections, Research, Climate change, Social justice, Economics, Faculty, Gender, Health care, History, Immigration, Center for International Studies, Comparative Media Studies/Writing, Philosophy, Political science, Russia, Policy, Security studies and military, Technology and society, SHASS, Diversity and inclusion, Diversity